The Ridiculous Road to Respectability

TCU is headed to the AQ (automatic qualifying) Big East, starting in July of 2012 (just in time for the world to end... coincidence?) in all sports.

Part of me is ridiculously ecstatic in regards to this development, part of me dies a little inside due to the fact that we are going to be buying into a system that is so obviously corrupt, elitist, and illogical.

Put it this way, the conference that we are currently in (non automatic qualifying Mountain West) has two teams currently ranked in the Top 25 (us at three, Utah at 20 in the BCS, 21 in the AP) with two others also receiving votes (San Diego State would be at 32 in the AP and Air Force would be 33).  The AQ conference we are going to (the Big East) has one team currently ranked in the Top 25 (West Virginia at 24) and only one other team also receiving votes (Connecticut would be at 29).  The Big East currently has 6 teams that are bowl eligible, one more than the Mountain West does, but of those bowl eligible teams, only one of the six has more than 7 wins on the season, all but one of the Mountain West bowl eligible teams have at least 8 wins on the season.  West Virginia, the only of the bowl eligible Big East teams with more than 7 wins, only has 8 wins on the season.

The bottom of the Mountain West certainly appears weaker, with four teams with worse overall records than any in the Big East (Colorado St and Wyoming each at 3 and 9 and New Mexico and UNLV each with double digit losses), but there are two teams with only 4 wins in the Big East (Cincinnati and Rutgers), but then there is the fact that the Big East has one less team than the Mountain West overall, meaning that an additional cupcake can be added to the home schedule for each of the Big East teams.  So if you real close look at it, the bottom of the barrel for the Mountain West isn't really that much worse than the Big East.

I think that it is safe to say without much doubt that the Mountain West is currently a superior conference when compared to the Big East in football.

That being said, the Big East has an automatic spot in a BCS bowl, meaning that their teams can get into a BCS bowl despite losing a game or two (and, in fact will get a team in this year with at least 3 losses, and probably one with at least 4) which for some reason makes the powers that be regard them as having faced stiffer competition and more worthy of National Title consideration.

It is very rare for there to be lots of teams with zero losses on the regular season.  Last year, there were 5.  That isn't normal.  The reason that I am glad that we are moving into the Big East is that had there only been 3 teams at the end of the regular season last year (as will be the case this year assuming Oregon and Auburn win out, which certainly is not a given) Cincinnati would have been in the National Championship game over us.  Simply because they came out of the Big East.  The final rankings had them at 9 after they got completely embarrassed by Florida.  We also lost our bowl game, but finished at 6, meaning when it was all said and done, no one really thought that Cincinnati was actually better than we were, but they would have been in the National Championship game based solely on the fact that they were from an AQ conference.

The way things stand this season, it might not matter if we were in an AQ conference or not.  If we were undefeated in the Big East right now, we would still be third behind an unbeaten Auburn and an unbeaten Oregon, but I can tell you this, there wouldn't be any talk of us possibly getting left out of the National Title game if one of them slipped up on Saturday.  Right now, there are people saying that it could be that Wisconsin will jump us or that Auburn would remain ahead of us even with a loss.  Personally, I think that if either of those teams slip up, we will get our chance, but there would be no question that we would get our chance if we were already in the Big East, despite the fact that the conference we are currently in is better.

That shows how ridiculous this system is, and how we really have no choice but to take the opportunity to put ourselves in the system, make ourselves one of the haves instead of remaining co-ruler of the have-nots with Boise St.

Take a look at them for why this move had to happen.  They lost to a very good Nevada team in overtime for what will be their only loss of the season, but they will be in an early bowl game probably against the third place team from the MAC.  That is horrible.  They deserve much better than that.  In BCS bowls in their place will be an at least 3 loss (but probably 4 loss) Big East team, the ACC Champion which will either be 2 loss Virginia Tech (who lost to a D1-AA team and, yup, Boise St) or a three loss Florida St team, and the Big 12 Champ which will either be a 2 loss OU or a 2 loss Nebraska.  None of those teams deserve a spot over a 12-1 Boise St.

This system is corrupt and unfair, and to get to a National Title game as a non-AQ requires that there be at most only one undefeated AQ team and a preseason ranking inside the top 10.  Anything else makes it impossible, and even when these criteria are met it isn't a guarantee.

As much as I hate this system, and will continue to, it will be nice to be on the side that benefits from the corruption for a change.

This move will also prove hugely beneficial to both the men's and women's basketball programs and the baseball program due to the better TV exposure, more respectable (unquestionably in basketball) conference, and (again, especially in basketball) access to better recruits.  Right now, it has been quite some time since our men's basketball team has been respectable (although they currently sit at 5-2 after beating USC yesterday... GO FROGS!) and there will probably be some tough games in the beginning, but with the chance to get to play perennial NCAA tourney teams such as Pitt, Georgetown, Syracuse, Connecticut, and Notre Dame every year  I truly believe that it won't be long before our men's basketball team gets serious and can contend even if not actually win the conference.  Trips to the Tourney won't be out of the question and on years we don't make it to the big dance, the NIT won't be a terrible consolation prize.  As for the women's team, no more 25 win seasons followed by a 12 seed.

The positives far outweigh any negatives (and travel isn't really a negative because we will actually travel less in the Big East than we would in the soon to be reconstructed Mountain West) so it is hard to not like this change.

I just wish the system wasn't one that made it totally necessary.

Go Frogs! (And go South Carolina and Oregon St this weekend!)

The Min-Centaur

So, a friend of mine has a D&D group every Sunday night here on campus.

Now, I think we can all agree that I am a nerd. I am obsessed with Sci-Fi (as opposed to SyFy the ridiculous renaming of the Sci-Fi Network, but that's another post and probably should be on Fat-Train) most of my non-scholastic reading is in the fantasy genre, I have spent numerous hours playing through every possible scenario in every Bioware game, and I am an expert on the entire universes of Marvel and DC, but in my life I have actually never played Dungeons and Dragons.

I know. It's actually rather surprising to me as well.

Ever since I've found Wil Wheaton's blog (oh yeah, I really love Star Trek too, and so it shouldn't be a surprise that I am a fan of the blog from the guy that played Wesley Crusher) I've had a little more interest in getting involved with this style of gaming.  Wil does a great job in some of his posts talking about why games such as D&D are important and those posts certainly have me more intrigued with the idea of joining my friend's game.

However, I have standards.

By which I mean that I'm going to do it my way, and in as original way as I can manage.  If I'm going to finally play D&D when I've gone through my whole nerd life without ever playing D&D, I'm going to do it right.

My friend told me the different character types I could use in the game, and it included minotaurs (a torso of a bull but a man waist down) and centaurs (torso of a man, but the body of a horse below the waist), so clearly, I decided that my character should be a Min-Centaur, having the torso of a bull (like a minotaur) but have the body of a horse below the waist (like a centaur).

He has yet to agree to let this type of character into the game, and therefore I have yet to play D&D, but that hasn't kept me from imagining some back story for my character.

He is a loner, having no idea who his parents are; he is rejected by both the minotaur society and the centaur society as a freak.  Throughout his life he has made his own way, and been forced to learn to fight in order to protect himself from all of those who would see it as a huge mark of honor to kill this unique "monster."

Of course, he would also have a heart of gold and be fiercely protective of all those that he considers to be outside of the norm and discriminated against.

I hope that my friend reconsiders and allows my Min-Centaur into the game, because I think that there are many possibilities for this character to grow and add to the overall story of the game that my friends are playing.  And if I'm going to finally break down and play D&D, it is with this type of storyline potential that I want to engage the game.

And as original an idea that the Min-Centaur seems to be, as my friend Justin points out in a recent blog post of his own, "There is a new kind of law since the advent of the internet that if you can think of something, it's already on the internet."  And that turns out to be true about the Min-Centaur as well.

So, I will close with a pic I found of two of these magnificent creatures.

JOSH TOULOUSE SMASH!

I'm an adult on the Youth Ministry Council for the Trinity Brazos Area, which is just a lot of words saying that I help the high school youth on the council plan and execute the CYF (high school age) events for the TBA.

Our first event with this council was Fall Retreat in December, and Adam (another adult on the council) decided we needed a more creative way to present the rules for the events. I agreed, and as the person on the council with a film degree, and the only one with an awesome Canon XL-2 video camera, I agreed to help put together a rules video using a bunch of Adam's action figures.

We shot the first one the night before the event was going to begin, leaving me little time to edit it, and so I'm not in love with how the first one turned out, however, the idea was funny enough, and it went over very well with the youth, plus it was a ton of fun to make, and that is really the important thing.



For the second video, for Mid Winter which was this very weekend, we shot it on the Monday before which allowed me all week to edit it, and therefore I am much more excited about the finished product.



It was over twice as long which meant that I had to split it up for YouTube, so the outtakes, which at the retreat were shown with the video, are here in their own video.



Again we had a lot of fun getting together to shoot the video, and although it was a lot of work, I really enjoyed editing the video, and again, the youth really enjoyed it, so overall, the project has been a great success.

I also really enjoy the fact that there is a major storyline developing throughout these videos, and I have already begun work on the story for the culmination of what will be the Rules Video Trilogy, with the final video debuting this summer at CYF Conference.

I'll post it here afterward.

Remember, Follow the rules or JOSH TOULOUSE SMASH!

Lent and the Idea of Sacrifice

Today is Ash Wednesday, and the official begininng of Lent, leading up to the betrayal and crucifixion of Jesus of Nazareth, culminating in Easter Sunday, celebrating the resurrection.

Many people, especially in the Catholic tradition, use this time of Lent to give something up, as a way to commemorate and symbolize the sacrifice that Jesus made for us. Throughout my life I have gone between participating in this tradition and ignoring it.

The last couple of years I have participated in Lent, but more because I saw it as a way to better myself, not primarily as a way to get closer to God or to try and identify with the suffering of Jesus. Two years ago I gave up sweets and since that time have done a better job of not overdoing it with candy. Similarly last year I gave up fast food, and since, I have not eaten fast food with the regularity that I did before last year, and in fact have eaten fast food less than once a week so far this year (granted it is only February).

Both of those were things that I wanted to "give up" in order to better myself, however, and not really something that I was giving up that would cause me any suffering or real sense of loss, especially since I have tried to continue that practice beyond Lent each of the last two years.

This year, I wanted to give up something that would truly be difficult, and something that I would be extremely glad to get back when the Lenten season was over. I also wanted it to be something that in its absence would allow me a way to grow closer to God.

I've found that item, and this is definitely not going to be easy.

I am giving up the radio. I am giving up listening to music or even sports talk when I am at home (via Internet radio, iTunes, X-Box live, the Sirius/XM ap on my phone, etc.), when I am at work (XM online and Pandora are normally almost always streaming on my computer, and when neither of those are, my iPod is, but not now), and most importantly and most difficultly, in the car.

Working approximately 30 minutes away from where I live, the radio is an essential part of my daily commute. Forcing myself to make that drive in silence will hopefully allow me time to meditate and make more of an effort to commune with God daily. It is hard to drive in that silence and not think about why I am driving in that silence, and that, I believe, will make this a much more rewarding experience than just giving up something that I wanted to or knew that I should give up anyway.

I look forward to seeing how this spiritual discipline will affect me as the Lenten season progresses.

Wish me luck.