San Diego State pulled it off as we had hoped and became the sixth different cup-winner in the last six years. (This is after 15 years of Stanford and USC trading wins.) Final run: $ python3 ./mcc_schedule.py -vCalifornia 0 at San Diego State 34 on Sep 20, 2025San José State 29 at Stanford 30 on… Continue reading 2025 champs
David Stern part 12 – Image Control and the Dress Code
In reading over countless David Stern newspaper clippings and seeing how many different ways he could rephrase his origin myths and get reporters to credulously repeat them I was struck by this one little nugget from 1988. The story, of course, is titled “Stern visions of NBA / Commissioner is an innovator.” Down around paragraph… Continue reading David Stern part 12 – Image Control and the Dress Code
San Diego State is making history
We certainly had a decisive game this weekend. San Diego State went into Fresno as a slight 1.5 pt favorite and won the game 23-0. With that, SDSU take control of the cup race and Fresno is out. Current run: $ python3 ./mcc_schedule.py -vCalifornia 0 at San Diego State 34 on Sep 20, 2025San José… Continue reading San Diego State is making history
Origin of the phrase “the brains of the outfit”
How old is the phrase: “the brains of the outfit?” Short answer: much older than I thought. It goes back at least to 1874.. But I still don’t exactly know and if anyone else does I couldn’t find it. In researching David Stern I went idly looking for the earliest instances of the gangster film… Continue reading Origin of the phrase “the brains of the outfit”
David Stern part 11: The slop we used to deal with
I thought I’d highlight one particular column I found in my David Stern research. As time passes and memories recede of the fawning Stern journalism that prevailed for three decades, let’s open the time capsule and see what oozes out. This particular column has a poignant resonance here in October 2025. I’m going to include… Continue reading David Stern part 11: The slop we used to deal with
2025 results
We’ve had some interesting games. Cal went to San Diego State as an undefeated 17 point favorite, dreaming of possible glories with an ACC schedule where they somehow miss Miami, Florida State and Clemson. And there they flamed out spectacularly, losing 34-0. Then Stanford and San Jose State played a very satisfying back and forth… Continue reading 2025 results
Lost America: The Hot Girl In The Woods
While researching the history of North Carolina’s Lake Norman (as one does) I encountered the story of “the real life Long Sam.” The wikipedia paragraph is so weird that I had to dig up the primary sources, which are ten times weirder. As presented in a full page spread in the Charlotte Observer on August… Continue reading Lost America: The Hot Girl In The Woods
2025: Previewing a historical season
Is this the lowest point for California college football ever? There were no California teams in the AP preseason top 25 and only USC managed to even receive votes in the most recent one. Doing an eyeball survey of the preseason AP Top 25 polls archived in wikipedia it took going back to 1965 before… Continue reading 2025: Previewing a historical season
David Stern part 10 : The roots of NBA draft manipulation
An NBA insider from a middle class franchise (the Hawks) sounds off about NBA draft practices. The system is a mockery of fairness. He’s so sick of how the top pick in the draft is manipulated by the league to allocate the best players for a handful of privileged franchises. The year is 1963. “This… Continue reading David Stern part 10 : The roots of NBA draft manipulation
The worst punt of 2024
A few years ago I added some code to apply “punt sadness score” and search for bad ones. I never really followed up because the play-by-play data was pretty polluted. Doing the API v2 cleanup reminded me of it so let’s see what running it against 2024 comes up with. Disclaimer up front: This idea… Continue reading The worst punt of 2024