Jul9th2007
I gotta toss this in there. I think Hawk-Eye is killing the game. Not the whole game. I’ll explain.I just watched the men’s final for Wimbledon and I’m a little torn on how I feel about the state of Professional Tennis these days. It was a great match - don’t get me wrong. Let me back up just a little bit. I grew up watching the likes of Johnny Mac, Connors, Noah, Becker, Edberg, Cash, etc… Very entertaining stuff. Not just the tennis, but the characters- maybe not so much with the Swedes, but the rest of the guys, even Lendl, who was tennis’s Dr. Evil, brought some color to the court.
Today, you have this Hawk-Eye system. It totally eliminates the arguing with the ump. THAT SUCKS! Not that arguing a call ever made the umpire EVER change his mind, but at least there was a little more than grunts and hand signals to coaches. Today, I mean, a player challenges, and “replay” shows it in or out. That’s it. Done. Move on. Very definitive - so to speak. It’s a computer model of the apprximate trajectory of the ball. I think I heard its like 90% accurate. Basically, some MIT guy got paid. Come on…I wanna see Federer smash his frame against a netpost. Could you imagine Nadal getting fired up (more than his N-Synch “hop-fistpump”)? Roddick at least chats it up on the court, let his mouth run a little bit, I like it, he’s also got Connors in his corner. Its not about being a showman (like Agassi) but just allowing a little character to come out. Don’t you want to see someone absolutely lose it because they think the out call at 30-40, 5-all in the final set was wrong. It would suck, to have a match end on a bad call, but that is what the ump is for, right? - to make sure its correct (maybe).
So, lets start there. Boot the Hawk-Eye system. Idea #2, have a tournament with only wood racquets, but that’s for another day.
Jul7th2007
Let there be code.
Holy Great Gooka Mooka! For any of you that haven’t built one of these things, just open one up - take a look at the guts. I did not know jack about PHP before yesterday, how it works, what the hell it does, etc. This is not your father’s HTML. Forget DW, this is not a WYSIWYG. I guess I’ll utilize the free time of my non-existing life to work on the design over the weekend, so it doesn’t end up looking like a McBlog. There’s gotta be like 9000 web tutorials on php code. Probably end up looking like Edward Scissorhands designed it regardless.
Jul6th2007
I feel good about myself. I figured out this flash header thing. Not a whole lot of info out there on this. You must remember, small accomplishments are HUGE to me. I love to pat myself on the back when I figure things out (next trick, I’m gonna kick my own ass). I’m getting back into this world of design and interactivity (after 6 years of being on the account side) and sooo much has changed. And when I say changed, I mean like 5 versions of software. Anyway, this stuff if fun. I had to screw with the sidebar a little while, but I think, the site, as a whole, is equivalent to what my 5 year old niece & nephew could do. More updates coming… Maybe, next time, I’ll actually have a site together and start the verbal spewing and be one of those angry bloggers! Yeee-haw!
Jul1st2007
Not quite sure what to think of this whole process, but what the hell, let’s go, right? I’m beyond trying to break any ground here, be first, shock or excite you, I mean, come on… there’s what like 7 Kabillion blogs out there? Well, when it gets down to it, this is more of an adventure for me. Building it for one - I mean I have the coding skills of a 3 year old with broken thumbs; and not to mention the organizational skills of a blind hyena. So, stop by every now and then, bring a cup of joe or your favorite libation as I use the web for self-medication, therapy and the occasional show-and-tell. Its cheaper than a movie.