Recent Comments by 8ighteenAcres

How do you get from luxury products to stadium architecture? Ask the team at Studio Massaud.

Ufez: wacky, but it at least looks like it could work and the renderings are more suggestive of the mass and intricacy of an actual structure.

posted by 8ighteenAcres at 12:40 AM on November 11, 2004

How do you get from luxury products to stadium architecture? Ask the team at Studio Massaud.

A series of columns seem to support the roof with a prayer and wing as accessories. Architecture is rife with poor renderings of late that are hyper-suggestive of things that just will not be. This is due mainly, in my opinion, to the reality suggested by computer imaging and compositing -- the reality of any project tends to be a lot more messy than this rendering supposes. I once gave a critique to a thesis student whose final project was an airport. He had a lovely model -- the form of the airport and the tarmac surrounding it were pristine and seductive. Problem: this is not what airports are like. When I tried to tell him that, he (and the other jurists) thought I was unfairly coming down on a fine project. I call 'em as I see 'em.

posted by 8ighteenAcres at 04:10 PM on November 10, 2004

Clemens wins number seven.

I don't know... I picked Clemens at the end of September, so I gotta agree with the choice now. He may be an ass but, bravo, Roger. (Wilco?)

posted by 8ighteenAcres at 04:03 PM on November 10, 2004

If the Yankees get Kevin Brown,

Talk to me about catch-up next September. Now let's put this deal together for Ufez!

posted by 8ighteenAcres at 05:09 AM on December 03, 2003

You may be right, Trharlan, about the snobbishne... KIDDING! Some of my best friends went to Miami. Anyway, Cinti and Miami have played a total of 108 times. (Miami leads the series -- no surprise here -- 58-43-7.)

posted by 8ighteenAcres at 03:40 PM on November 25, 2003

I say why not let them go to the Sugar Bowl if the complete the season undefeated? Beating Oklahoma looks unlikely for anyone and even if they did what have we gained? Two one-loss teams claiming a national championship because the ball bounced in one teams favor on one day? No matter what the system, someone will always be left out. How many years are we saddled with controvery for a champion versus not anyway? And when that controversy exisits, how many teams are involved. That's someting I would like to look at.

posted by 8ighteenAcres at 09:13 AM on November 10, 2003

Why do I suddenly feel so short.

posted by 8ighteenAcres at 05:03 AM on November 07, 2003

Big East to add 5 teams today,

Wow.

posted by 8ighteenAcres at 12:16 AM on November 05, 2003

Jags Punter does a bad Gimli impersonation

Perhaps we can send Hanson a copy of this.

posted by 8ighteenAcres at 05:46 AM on October 10, 2003

The road to Calvary

Last night, my brother was watching the taped reply on OLN; I had "watched" the stage earlier in the day via the online updates. We talked about the strength of Jan this year and Lance's chances. We could not discuss the days results but I said to him that I sensed something would happen tomorrow (now today) and sure enough something is. Someone had to make a move before leaving the Pyrenées and that someone is...

posted by 8ighteenAcres at 09:46 AM on July 21, 2003

Posh on Geography and Economics

StarFucker can read the comments but apparently does not have time for the article. :-)

posted by 8ighteenAcres at 03:49 AM on June 15, 2003

History of Tour de France

Thanks Fat -- Each year I relish the approach of the tour, wondering how much I will see and how much I will miss. (My biggest miss was when the tour traveled in Paris along the very street I was living , the rue du Faubourg St Antoine -- making two or three passes! I was enjoing a vacation in Ireland at the time though, so all was not lost.) Poulidor is an amazing story and truly known to all the French: my wife, even having been very young when his career was at its peak and not very interested in sport, can recount the populist memory of his woes. Watching the tour is free, yes, but takes a certain finesse and knowledge to increase the odds of watching at the right time. Tuning into the coverage 1/2 hour before the end of each stage is a good start. Looking at the mountain stages and predicting when (all recently by Lance) the race will be won is more difficult. I wonder if another surprise like Lemond's come-from-behind final stage victory will ever occur again. That was the stuff.

posted by 8ighteenAcres at 09:03 AM on June 07, 2003

What? The Dayton Gems are defunct? The horror of progress!

posted by 8ighteenAcres at 01:15 AM on June 05, 2003

Sosa ejected for cork in bat.

A little snippet with Adair.

posted by 8ighteenAcres at 09:51 AM on June 04, 2003

A downright unAmerican national pastime.

I've said this before, but baseball focuses too much on competition in the entertainment space and not on competition within its own league. The commissioner's office needs to be relegated to ceremonial and "rules" status; bring back league presidents and let's get down to the brass tacks! Each team is in competition with its own kind; whether the league does well against other entertainments is for the public to decide and this will wax and wane aas surely as the moon. I love baseball but I want to see it live and age gracefully, not be proped up like some doddering old fool. If in the end all we are left with is a bunch of second rate minor league teams, so be it, I say. (And in case the thought crosses the minds of the players that this is all the owner's faults, they need to look a little closer at their tax statements.)

posted by 8ighteenAcres at 01:02 AM on June 04, 2003

Sosa ejected for cork in bat.

Which era of crooked baseball would that be, kjh? Oh, I see, all of baseball history. :-/ As long as sports exists with rules (surely required to actually be called sport) there will be cheating. Vito touches on the cheating that really hurts though -- when athletes feel the need to abuse their bodies. Next up: cycling! As I re-read your post though, maybe you were already being sarcastic?

posted by 8ighteenAcres at 12:56 AM on June 04, 2003

Politicians get into ACC/Big East conflict

"What message do we send to student-athletes when decades of history can be destroyed as a sole result of economic considerations?'' Wow. Decades of history. I can't side with anyone on this one. (Interesting to note who's signatures are absent from the letter.) This is all a fools game. A huge bubble is building in college athletics -- perhaps all of sport -- and it will burst. I just can't wait for it to happen. /Grumbling crazy man at keyboard wondering if this will happen in his lifetime

posted by 8ighteenAcres at 10:38 PM on May 29, 2003

He was neither generous nor stupid -- not generous because giving a golf ball to a hall of fame is not an act worthy of the description generous. Was he stupid? No, but if he had sold the ball and the donated the cash to someone then he could have been generous and savvy.

posted by 8ighteenAcres at 03:22 AM on May 29, 2003

ACC expansion is now official.

I blame Penn State.

posted by 8ighteenAcres at 04:25 AM on May 14, 2003

There's no protesting in baseball!

* My panties are in such a bunch right now that I don't even know what to say. The hall of fame is not only a tool of MLB but now also of those who profess an "obligation to act and speak responsibly". Please.

posted by 8ighteenAcres at 05:32 AM on April 11, 2003

New Cincy Ballpark

Thanks for the links. I missed my chance to see Riverfront with its missing tooth but hope to see the new park the next time I pass through Ohio.

posted by 8ighteenAcres at 03:06 PM on March 26, 2003

Nebraska lawmaker pushing pay for college football players.

But are they really making millions for these schools? More and more I read that the numbers just don't wash. The competition to attract players essentially wipes out any profits. On the other hand, the image that the school projects can ride the coat tails of a sporting success story, so why not skip the whole farce that big time sports has become, pay the players and then let the team be "sponsored" by the college: make it a self-supporting subsidary of the university which simply carries the name, gives alums something to dream about and the students a reason to get trashed Saturday mights. Oh, wait a sec, students don't need a reason to get trashed Saturday night (or any other night for that matter -- what was I saying?)

posted by 8ighteenAcres at 03:04 AM on February 12, 2003

How about this Fenway proposal: 1. Build new stadium. 2. Go condo with Fenway structure. Money from the sale of the condos goes directly to the development cost of the new park. 3. Field and Green Monster become public park and, why not, host the occasional baseball game. Stadiums have become housing before. Stadiums have become public spaces before. (I'm having trouble finding the imagery/support for this but the Piazza Navona in Rome was a Roman Circus at one time, and many Roman arenas become housing space, squatted during the middle ages after the fall of the Roman Empire. I thought the problem with "86" as a user name was that it eighty-sixed every post. I really loved my one experience at Shea. But then that goes for most ballparks for me. Can't think of one that I really hate -- maybe it's because they all contain a ball field. :-)

posted by 8ighteenAcres at 03:23 AM on January 30, 2003

For me, in the end, this all comes down to an opinion. The fact, or not, that Rose bet on baseball or that Joe Jackson was involved in a scheme to throw the 1919 series has nothing to do with admitting either of them into the Hall. Any ban from the Hall is unrelated. According to this article, Joe Jackson was not officially banned from the Hall until 1991 when the connection of being banned from baseball was made to the Hall. (I am guessing this was on the account of Rose's difficulties.) Why is that important? Because the Hall of Fame is not the property of Major League Baseball, despite a board with many Major League connections, including the commissioner. (Let's be clear here too: betting on baseball is not a rule of the game, it is a rule of Major League Baseball with good reason. But it is not written in the rules of the game, even the ones used by MLB.) I've been to the hall. Rose and Jackson have not been expunged from the records, game equipment from their playing days is on display. The Hall is about the game: all of the game, not just the Major League cartel that continues to sap the richness from the sport. Controlling even the most egregious behavior of those involved in a sport is within the interest of those who attempt to control the profitability of a modern sport. Control may relate directly to profit. If no money can be made on a sport because the game seems fixed (I won't say it's impossible -- professional wresting turns a buck), then let the sport die or enact controls to limit the damage. So Rose and Jackson are banned by Major League Baseball. Is the Hall part of the control that MLB needs to exert to profit from its product? I say no.

posted by 8ighteenAcres at 05:23 AM on January 24, 2003

1,686 yards, 27 touchdowns and a torn ACL,

Bag Man: first of all, it's Bungles or Ben-GALS. Sheesh! ;) If the Bengals do choose McGahee at the top then they truly have no hope (I say that every year), even with the news of hiring of Marvin Lewis. I was lucky to see the Fiesta Bowl (in a commercial-less pseudo-highlight format on French television) and unlucky enough to see McGahee's injury. I can not imagine him being the same player again. I think he's doing the right thing though by trying for the NFL now and, who knows, he may be the steal of the draft.

posted by 8ighteenAcres at 04:25 AM on January 15, 2003