Dave in Green

Yep, someone needs to get on top of this quickly. Every time I visit ZN.O now, my Microsoft Security Essentials pops up a severe threat warning that the JS/Decdec.A virus has been detected and needs to be immediately removed. ZN.O is apparently planting a malicious code in the browser cache. Here's what the Microsoft Malware Protection Center has to say in part: Summary Virus:JS/Decdec.A is detection for certain malicious JavaScript code injected in HTML pages. The virus will execute on user computers that visit compromised websites. Symptoms Virus:JS/Decdec.A uses obfuscation techniques, sometimes in multiple layers, in order to hide its functionality. The malicious script will insert in the current document either an <iframe> or a <script> tag pointing to another malicious HTML page or JavaScript code. Infection symptoms will vary among variants due to any number of possible code instruction combinations. Microsoft Malware Protection Center Link

Not so fast, folks. Latest news is that the Big 12 is not coming totally apart. CBS Sports Link

Football: UA does not have the money or clout to get a proven winning D1 coach. Everyone else is a gamble. I think UA made an intelligent gamble, and got about as good a potential coach as UA is going to get. He may fail. But when I looked into Ianello's background, I liked what I saw. Even if he fails, I don't see it as a bad gamble. Soccer: UA was ranked #1 in the country and came as close to the national championship as you can get without actually winning it. UA has the best college soccer coach in the country, one that every other school would love to have, and many tried to get. Everyone was afraid that after last season's showing he was gone. He stayed. He didn't leave. The best soccer coach is back at UA with another great recruiting class. If you dug deep enough to find negatives in that scenario, you've dug clean through China and out to the edges of the known universe. Basketball: KD's biggest critics didn't like the way he put his teams together. He blew up what he was doing and made more changes for next season than he's ever made before. Circumstances may have played a role in some of this. But he made some really intelligent gambles with players like he hasn't had before. As with Ianello, the gambles may fail. But writing off the kind of gamble that many were asking for begs the question: Exactly what does it take to satisfy the naysayers before a single game has been played? As for the false rumor, fool me once, shame on you; fool me twice, shame on me. All basketball fans on ZN.O were put on notice not to take a certain poster seriously, and are now personally responsible for their own reactions to future comments. We don't need no steenkin' moderator intervention on that unless we also want someone to change our diapers. Athletic Director: Personally, I have no problem with anyone hiring their cronies as long as their cronies prove to be winners. We can guess all we want about what might happen. But winners aren't determined until the games are played and the final scores are up. Since I'm not smart enough to predict the future, I'm waiting to see how things play out before I formulate an opinion on this one.

Few "outside the box" ideas are worthy of seeing the light of day. They are mostly trial and error experiments. Ever wonder why it's called "trial and error" rather than "trial and success?" Because errors outnumber successes exponentially. For every Albert Einstein there are millions of snake oil salesmen. Should they all get equal coverage in the media? What's a fair process for separating the winners from the losers? Who do you trust to make the call?

Output = input + processing. It's the same for all of us. Individual differences lie in the quantity, quality, and balance of all three elements. I was always really embarassed as a kid that I was so bad at memorization. I could never make it as a dittohead. To compensate, I had to learn to think things out for myself and put them in my own words instead of just quoting. So my input may undergo different processing than the norm before being output. Specifically addressing the concept of "sellers" and "buyers" in politics, I don't recall ever reading or hearing of it put exactly that way. It just came to me in the course of processing the current state of political discourse. Doesn't mean it hasn't been expressed before by others. Few thoughts are truly unique and original.

A common tactic of both the left and the right is to try to convince the electorate that extremists from the other side have taken over and pushed the country way too far to either the right or the left, thus setting up America for a big fall. Fear is a powerful motivator to get a lazy electorate out to the polls. So I always listen to who is preaching the fear factor the loudest to get an idea of which side is more desperate to gain power. With desperation comes even greater distortions about how bad things are going to be if that other evil party takes over. Fact-checking the wildest claims of each side can be enlightening. America's two-party system, along with the Constitution's system of separation of powers and checks and balances, tends to balance and moderate the extremes of both the left and right. As long as things don't swerve too far to the left or too far to the right for extended periods, American remains generally moderate and balanced. Voters closest to the center are critical to maintaining this balance, as the most extreme leftists and rightists are totally entrenched in their belief systems. In essence, the true believers of both the right and the left are "sellers" pushing agendas. Voters closest to the center are "buyers" looking to see which side has the best solutions at any given time. These swing voters are the ones who are not committed to extreme political dogma, but are pragmatists who know from past experience that neither extreme has all the answers, and what's most important is what works best for all. Personally, I'm a "buyer" and not a "seller." I'm always looking for the best ideas, regardless of which side they come from. My vote is won by good ideas, not fear and deception. Political sales people who preach anger and hate to me will be shown the door.

Trivia question: How many times did the boy guarding the sheep in the Aesop fable falsely cry "Wolf!" to fool the villagers before they stopped taking him seriously? Answer: Twice. Use your next one wisely.

Thank you, Zeke's Mom, for some rational perspective! Honest to goodness, if ZN.O starts revolving around speculation about every casual remark every kid makes on Facebook, I'm gonna puke on my keyboard, and that would be a mess to clean up.

Other than buying tickets, I do not financially support UA. I graduated from another college and have contributed to that school. If I lived near that school and attended their sporting events, I'd expect to be treated in a manner commensurate with my contributions. Like most of you, I have no problems with the American system of the people who pay or contribute the most getting the best seats, best parking, most amenities, etc. That's the way the free market system works. But in relation to support of college sports, the system has to be set up to fairly and equitably reward total commitment over time. Maybe there's no system that will make everyone happy all the time. But the system at least needs to be reasonable and understandable, i.e. no unpleasant surprises. If donor support goes from enthusiasm to anger over the perception of being taken for granted and wronged, something's wrong with the system. Several people have done a nice job of describing what has been done right and what has been done wrong in this instance. I hope someone at UA reads, understands, and makes corrections on what has been done wrong. As for Lot 9 specifically, it's one of several parking lots close to the stadium. What's unique about Lot 9 is the visibility from Exchange. It's the parking lot seen by the most people driving by who might not be attending Zips football games. It's as much a PR parking lot as it is a premium parking lot. If I'm the head PR guy at UA, I'm in the meetings arguing that this is the lot where I want to have the most loyal contributors and football fans -- the people who arrive earliest, leave latest, and tailgate with their families flying Zips flags, pennants, and banners. Big money may still win, as it usually does in a free market system -- but not always. Sometimes someone with a larger vision sees the need to balance out the concept of the biggest current spender parking 100 feet closer to the stadium vs. the total image of UA football based on what passersby see when they drive by the stadium. The biggest current contributors may or may not show up at games. The wealthy have many toys to occupy their time. When they do arrive, they may arrive later and depart earlier. Lot 9 will be seen by many passersby as mostly empty much of the time, and a dead parking lot full of nothing but nice cars even when it's full. What does that say to passersby on Exchange after all the UA enthusiasm they witnessed last season?

This discussion brings to mind some good advice I've gotten over the years about how to deal with friends involved in divorces -- personal or business. The key points are that he said, she said is never completely accurate, because each party perceives the same circumstances in completely different ways, and it's virtually impossible for an outside party -- even a best friend -- to independently confirm all the facts. Picking sides and portraying one as a saint and the other as the devil only increases the likelihood of collateral damage.

There's really no end to the kind of stuff you can dig up if you keep digging. I just discovered that rivals.com offers the option of searching an entire recruiting class (including jucos) by position, and then sorting by height. So I called up all forwards from the class of 2010 and sorted by shortest to tallest. The shortest forward listed in the class of 2010 prospects is 6-1. There are also four 6-2 forwards. Darrell Blanton is among 29 forwards listed at 6-3. The concept of 6-3 forwards not having a chance of making quality teams is blown out of the water by the fact that both Texas and Oklahoma have each signed a 6-3 forward from the class of 2010. Utah, Utah State, Stephen F. Austin and Akron are the others schools listed as having signed 6-3 forwards. It will be interesting to see how many of these recruits are able to contribute as D1 college forwards and how many are converted to guards. None of these shorter forwards have been given any stars by rivals.com, which is pretty interesting when you consider that teams like Texas and Oklahoma are generally expected to sign only multi-star players. The shortest forward with any star rating from rivals.com is 6-4 Justin Coleman from Huntington, WV, who has a 4-star rating out of 5. Anyway, here's a link to the site in case anyone else is interested in playing with the numbers: rivals.com link

In the true spirit of overanalyzing, I've found a little more info on Darrell Blanton. He does not show up in an internet search prior to 2007. At the end of his junior season in high school, he shows up on the All-Ohio D1 third team along with none other than Alex Sullivan. In their senior HS seasons, Sullivan moved up to 2nd team and Blanton fell to honorable mention. Hoop Scoop rated Blanton the 40th best Ohio HS player in the class of 2008, and the 11th best wing forward. For comparison, Hoop Scoop rated Humpty Hitchens the 9th best player in that class and the best point guard, with Sullivan 21st overall and 3rd best PG. As a freshman at Fort Scott Community College, Blanton averaged 18.2 points, 7.5 rebounds and an impressive 56% from the field to earn all-conference honorable mention. That's about as much as I can find. Blanton is just not on anyone's radar, as you might expect for a walk-on junior with two years of eligibility. Expectations should be low, which means that any contributions he might make will be a bonus.

I've also found that is good for helping recover from some of my analytical commentaries. Don't know how they vote on this, but the NJCAA lists Blanton as an honorable mention D1 All-American, one of 20 forwards on the total list including 1st, 2nd and 3rd team plus honorable mentions: NJCAA All-Americans Maybe it's true that he selected the Zips because he wanted to stay close to home. Maybe he's as good as the NJCAA rates him, and maybe he's as good as the rating services rate him. Until proven otherwise, I'm going to go with the theory that KD has latched on to a hidden gem. I generally like the kind of players he has been coming up with recently.

What, me overanalyze? It's worth noting that the Zips have gone from a backcourt-heavy team to a frontcourt-heavy team -- from last season's roster of 7 backcourt and 8 frontcourt players to the currently listed 5 backcourt and 10 frontcourt players. So simple math seems to indicate that there's more opportunity for a backcourt walk-on than a frontcourt walk-on. Even at guard, Blanton would be an inch shorter than McClanahan and Petersen, and only an inch taller than McNees.

If LeBron goes to one of the big-name teams and wins an NBA championship or two, he will be just like all the other big-name players who went to big-name teams and won an NBA championship or two. It will be expected. The only way LeBron separates himself from all the other great NBA players in history is to lead a no-name, cursed franchise like the Cleveland Cavaliers to glory. That's the difference between being a great player and being the greatest.

Skip, nothing really surprises me any more about what's happening to the Zips between seasons. KD has blown up his old system with a ton of TNT. He's trying all kinds of different strategies to fundamentally change the Zips. Some of the changes will work better than others, but we really can't know which will be more or less successful until the next season or two play out. Blanton would be a big gamble for a D1 team to burn a scholarship on at forward because he's only 6-3 and he only has two years of eligibility. His biggest chance to succeed at the D1 level is to switch to wing guard. But with only two years of eligibility, he has limited time to learn a new position and contribute, which makes that a big gamble, too. I think that's why he didn't get scholarship offers despite putting up good numbers as an undersized juco forward. Without a scholarship offer, his best chance lies with a team that is short on wing guards where he has more of a chance to contribute as a walk-on. If I'm Blanton without a scholarship offer, I'm looking for two things: A team that is short enough on proven wing guards to give me a chance to play even as a walk-on, and the strongest available team in that situation so I'm not with a losing team. The fact that Blanton sees the Zips as his best opportunity to make that transition is both bad news and good news. The bad is that it points out the Zips' weakness in wing guards, and the good is that the Zips are perceived by an honorable mention NCJAA D1 All-American as a winning program.

I can't recall the last time I saw a 6-3 forward on the roster of a highly ranked NCAA D1 team. But credit should be given that he earned an All-American honorable mention at the NCJAA D1 level. The Zips have not had a consistent wing guard as tall as 6-3, so with his proven juco performance at wing forward he sounds like a reasonable roll of the dice as a walk-on potential wing guard.

Moving to Bath Township is leaving Akron? Good heavens, I've been misleading my out-of-state friends by telling them I live in Akron when I actually live in Green. I thought it was like horseshoes, where being close counts. I'll be sure to come clean and tell them all that I've left Akron.

Not a lot of data available to get an idea of just how good he is. Making NJCAA D1 All-American honorable mention is not bad. It means that he's probably in the top 20 of all juco forwards. But at 6-3, he's the shortest forward of all those on the NJCAA D1 All-American list of 1st, 2nd, and 3rd teams plus honorable mentions. There are 24 NCJAA regions. In region 4, Blanton finished the 29-game season 2nd in scoring average (18.345), 5th in free throw percentage (74.1), 5th in rebound average (6.586), and 6th in steals per game (1.345). He does not show up among the top 10 in field goal percentage, 3-point percentage, or assist average. The Zips have already converted a 6-6 transfer from shooting guard to small forward (Diggs), so I don't know what that means for a 6-3 transfer who's already a forward. If he's got a good outside shot and can also slash, the Zips do have a need for a proven shooting guard who can score consistently and reliably. Blanton did have a fairly high juco scoring average. He'll certainly have his work cut out earning playing time as a walk-on.

Like it or not, LeBron brings more national and international attention to Akron than any other individual in the sports world. Now, you can say that sports in general should not be that big a deal in the overall scheme of global priorities. But if you follow that route, then why waste time on a sports forum like ZN.O? For those who do believe that sports can be a positive force in the world, I just don't understand why anyone in the Akron area would not be interested in doing something to try to convince LeBron how much it matters to people in his hometown to keep him in the area year-round. But maybe someone has a good argument for why it would benefit the area if LeBron moved permanently to one of the coasts, and sports fans around the world could go back to ignoring Akron. Or maybe some here think something should be done to try to demonstrate to LeBron how much his hometown appreciates him and wants him to stay, but just disagree that this is the right way to go about doing it. If so, I'd be interested in seeing some positive alternatives to this event at Infocision. My initial take on this is that it's the right thing to do, and the right place to do it. Sure, some sports fans around the country will mock the event, but mainly because they want LeBron to ditch Akron, move to their part of the country and play for their favorite NBA team.

The point about Japan is perception. Japan is perceived by most people to have a healthy economy. Most people would not be able to answer the question above without looking it up.

Generally speaking, we tend to think of those countries that have the worst public debt to gross domestic product percentages as having the weakest economies in the world. The number one country on this list will be no surprise to anyone. It's Zimbabwe, with a percentage of public debt to GDP of 304%. The number two country on the list weighs in at 192.1%. You would expect it to be another weak third-world country. Can anyone name that country?

I wish Humpty all the best in landing with a good mid-major team where he fits well and can show all he's got. But you know that wherever he goes, there will be the usual group of naysayers posting on that team's fan forum what a dumb move it is take on an Akron "reject" with mediocre stats.

Ruh roh. The official Libertarian Party of Kentucky now says that Rand Paul is not one of them. Apparently they believe he went from a Libertarian candidate to a Tea Party candidate to a mainstream Republican candidate since he began his campaign. What's the old saying about being able to please some of the people some of the time ..... Libertarian Party of Kentucky Link

I tend to overlook the outside shooting in these videos because they only show the ones that go in, and who knows how many misses are on the cutting room floor? But a PG slamming over two bigger defenders definitely catches your attention. More importantly, Ennis appears to really know how to get the ball to his teammates. It also appears as if Ennis has grown an inch to 6-1. In the previous ZN.O discussion about him, when he was listed at 6-0, it was mentioned that there was a good chance that he might add a little height by the time he arrived in Akron. Here's a recent Ennis review on ChicagoHoops.com: Akron has a recruiting steal on their hands with Class of 2011 Lake Forest Academy star Dylan Ennis of Team NLP. Ennis has been absolutely terrific this spring with superb showings at both the Nike Spring Showdown In Indiana, and also this past weekend at the Spiece Run N' Slam. Ennis was at his best in the 17-U Gold Division playoffs of Spiece against a loaded Seattle Rotary team that is among the best in the country. Team NLP took Seattle Rotary to overtime before falling. However, Ennis was sensational in the second half scoring from all points of the floor, and nearly willed his team to victory in a game that wasn't decided until the final seconds of overtime. ChicagoHoops.com Link