The Sun article...
Meh.
In the tradition of fellow rappers T.I. in 2007 and Asher Roth in 2009, I expect Drake to give an awful performance. On the other hand, he's had some big commercial hits which will be fun to hear in person.
I thought Slope Day headed in the right direction in 2008, when they brought Gym Class Heroes as the headliner. GCH wasn't the most talented or successful act, but they gave a good show. Rappers just don't sound particularly good live.
Of course, with Drake, there's always the chance he'll do something like this:
Wednesday, February 10, 2010
Monday, February 8, 2010
McKee Charges Dropped?
I've gotten some comments that the rape charges against former Cornell hockey goalie David McKee '07 have been dropped. His Wikipedia page says charges were dropped on January 29.
However, I can't find any media reports about the McKee case, and the Orange County DA's office still has McKee listed under "cases in the news," with a date set in April for the trial to begin.
It seems likely that the charges have been dropped, but I haven't seen anything confirmed. I'm too lazy to call California to find out directly.
Anyone have information?
However, I can't find any media reports about the McKee case, and the Orange County DA's office still has McKee listed under "cases in the news," with a date set in April for the trial to begin.
It seems likely that the charges have been dropped, but I haven't seen anything confirmed. I'm too lazy to call California to find out directly.
Anyone have information?
Cornell Alum Sells Plane to Iran
and gets in trouble for it.
Balli Aviation Ltd., a subsidiary of the UK-based Balli Group PLC, pleaded guilty today in D.C. district court to a two-count criminal indictment that it illegally exported a commercial Boeing 747 plane from the U.S. to Iran, the Justice Department said.
Under the plea agreement, Balli Aviation Ltd. agreed to pay a $2 million criminal fine, a $15 million civil settlement, and to be placed on corporate probation for five years.
Balli Aviation's CEO holds both a B.S. and M.S. from Cornell.
The Hockey Season
Talking about the Cornell hockey team after they lose, which is what happened on Saturday, usually divides people into two camps. There are those who shrug off the loss as a minor bump in the road, as a rare blemish in an otherwise solid season. And there are others who view the loss as a coming of the apocalypse and are ready to throw in the towel.
I exaggerate a bit, but it's not too far from the truth.
Personally, I think I'm somewhere in the middle. I haven't been "sold" on this year's team, and I don't think I will ever be. But I don't think we're a bad team.
I don't want to play down some of our good results this season. The victories over UNH and UND were legitimate, and we've played some great games against other ECAC Hockey teams.
But don't for one second think that this team is anywhere close to a top 10 team nationally, as it has been in the polls for the last few weeks.
Take the North Dakota weekend. NoDak completely outplayed Cornell over that weekend, and it took an amazing performance by Ben Scrivens to steal a win that first night. Just like a hot pitcher in baseball can steal a game against a better team, a great goaltending performance can steal a victory against a superior hockey team. It was great to win, but there should be no doubt in our minds that North Dakota is a better hockey team.
But what of North Dakota? They're 8-9-3 in the WCHA. In the ECAC, they'd be at least 16-2-2 by this point. Their road trip to Cornell was bookended by weekend sweeps at the hands of Minnesota and Denver.
Imagine playing in a conference in which a team like North Dakota is routinely swept by other teams in the conference. Compared to the ECAC, the talent differential is striking.
Cornell can certainly beat a WCHA team in the NCAA tournament. Look at that 1-0 victory this season, or the games in 2005 and 2006 in which strong defense and goaltending came oh-so-close to earning the 'W' for the Big Red. But Cornell would certainly be the underdog in that match-up.
The UNH win was a great game for the Red, but keep in mind that UNH had yet to win an out-of-conference game at that point. The Big Red had just been humiliated down in Florida, so they certainly were fired up for the UNH game. Without that added spark, I'm not sure we would have looked so good.
As I've written previously, Cornell blew major chances to make a statement against Yale, Quinnipiac (in November), Boston University, and Colorado College. 0-3-1 in those games, with the tie coming after blowing a two-goal lead in the third period.
I'll take the Cornell team which toppled New Hampshire and match them up against any team in the country. But that's not the team we tend to see every night. Recall the 2006-7 team which beat UNH 5-2 over Winter Break and ended the season during the ECAC Quarterfinal Round.
If I could describe this year's team in a paragraph...
We're a top-four ECAC team which relies on superb goaltending to remain in games. We shut down weak teams in the third period to preserve small leads. Our powerplay was phenomenal early in the season, but has since turned into an embarrassing display of telegraphed passes and poor shot selection. Offensively, no one is having a particularly bad year, but no one has stepped up to be the difference-maker in key games. Defensively, we take too many dumb penalties and allow too many odd-man rushes to win big games.
Cornell will make the final weekend in Albany, and I think they'll make the NCAA tournament. (Although the Pairwise is crazy these days, with Cornell going from 8th (2 seed) to 15th (out of the tournament) after Saturday's game...) Maybe Scrivens will bail them out and they'll make the Frozen Four. Or maybe we'll sit at home this spring, wondering what might have happened if Riley Nash played to his potential. Or if we'd showed up to play in Florida. Or if our powerplay hadn't tanked halfway through the season. Or if we'd been more disciplined. Or if...
I exaggerate a bit, but it's not too far from the truth.
Personally, I think I'm somewhere in the middle. I haven't been "sold" on this year's team, and I don't think I will ever be. But I don't think we're a bad team.
I don't want to play down some of our good results this season. The victories over UNH and UND were legitimate, and we've played some great games against other ECAC Hockey teams.
But don't for one second think that this team is anywhere close to a top 10 team nationally, as it has been in the polls for the last few weeks.
Take the North Dakota weekend. NoDak completely outplayed Cornell over that weekend, and it took an amazing performance by Ben Scrivens to steal a win that first night. Just like a hot pitcher in baseball can steal a game against a better team, a great goaltending performance can steal a victory against a superior hockey team. It was great to win, but there should be no doubt in our minds that North Dakota is a better hockey team.
But what of North Dakota? They're 8-9-3 in the WCHA. In the ECAC, they'd be at least 16-2-2 by this point. Their road trip to Cornell was bookended by weekend sweeps at the hands of Minnesota and Denver.
Imagine playing in a conference in which a team like North Dakota is routinely swept by other teams in the conference. Compared to the ECAC, the talent differential is striking.
Cornell can certainly beat a WCHA team in the NCAA tournament. Look at that 1-0 victory this season, or the games in 2005 and 2006 in which strong defense and goaltending came oh-so-close to earning the 'W' for the Big Red. But Cornell would certainly be the underdog in that match-up.
The UNH win was a great game for the Red, but keep in mind that UNH had yet to win an out-of-conference game at that point. The Big Red had just been humiliated down in Florida, so they certainly were fired up for the UNH game. Without that added spark, I'm not sure we would have looked so good.
As I've written previously, Cornell blew major chances to make a statement against Yale, Quinnipiac (in November), Boston University, and Colorado College. 0-3-1 in those games, with the tie coming after blowing a two-goal lead in the third period.
I'll take the Cornell team which toppled New Hampshire and match them up against any team in the country. But that's not the team we tend to see every night. Recall the 2006-7 team which beat UNH 5-2 over Winter Break and ended the season during the ECAC Quarterfinal Round.
If I could describe this year's team in a paragraph...
We're a top-four ECAC team which relies on superb goaltending to remain in games. We shut down weak teams in the third period to preserve small leads. Our powerplay was phenomenal early in the season, but has since turned into an embarrassing display of telegraphed passes and poor shot selection. Offensively, no one is having a particularly bad year, but no one has stepped up to be the difference-maker in key games. Defensively, we take too many dumb penalties and allow too many odd-man rushes to win big games.
Cornell will make the final weekend in Albany, and I think they'll make the NCAA tournament. (Although the Pairwise is crazy these days, with Cornell going from 8th (2 seed) to 15th (out of the tournament) after Saturday's game...) Maybe Scrivens will bail them out and they'll make the Frozen Four. Or maybe we'll sit at home this spring, wondering what might have happened if Riley Nash played to his potential. Or if we'd showed up to play in Florida. Or if our powerplay hadn't tanked halfway through the season. Or if we'd been more disciplined. Or if...
Sunday, February 7, 2010
Back Soon
Sorry folks, it was a hectic weekend on the road to CT and NJ. Check back tomorrow for some real posts.
Thursday, February 4, 2010
Cornell's Poll Bubble
The Big Red is up to #5 in the national polls, which is quite different from our current #13 in the more-important pairwise.
Especially after seeing how Cornell played against #9 North Dakota a couple of weeks back, I don't think we deserve to be in the top 10, much less the top 5.
As usually happens, the Big Red will stumble a bit and our ranking will fall back to Earth. Such an event could certainly occur this weekend. I'll try to do a weekend preview later tonight or tomorrow morning.
Especially after seeing how Cornell played against #9 North Dakota a couple of weeks back, I don't think we deserve to be in the top 10, much less the top 5.
As usually happens, the Big Red will stumble a bit and our ranking will fall back to Earth. Such an event could certainly occur this weekend. I'll try to do a weekend preview later tonight or tomorrow morning.
More Cornell Fans Going to Away Games
The Cornell ticket office has no tickets remaining to the away hockey games at Quinnipiac and Princeton. I don't remember this happening last year.
Forecast looks bad for Saturday's game at Princeton (the current winter storm warning calls for 8-12 inches in central Jersey), so I wouldn't be surprised to see a lot of empty seats. That, and the general apathy among Princetonians for college hockey.
Forecast looks bad for Saturday's game at Princeton (the current winter storm warning calls for 8-12 inches in central Jersey), so I wouldn't be surprised to see a lot of empty seats. That, and the general apathy among Princetonians for college hockey.
Wednesday, February 3, 2010
Grade Deflation
So, Princeton students are griping about faculty-imposed grade deflation.
At Cornell, grading depends a lot on the type of class you take. I can remember only one time when I was the victim of grade deflation. It was a history class; our grade was primarily based on two pre-lim exams and a final. The tests were graded as points/100, which was converted on the standard scale (i.e. 88%=B+). I did well on the second pre-lim, but apparently the rest of the my section did as well. So even though I received around 90% credit on the test, I was told that the professor had lowered all of our grades. My 90% counted as a B-, which dropped my final grade to a B+.
I realize that professors, from time to time, make an effort to curb grade inflation in their particular classes. But many Cornell professors seem happy to reward hard work with an A. If you have 15 people in a seminar, and everyone works hard and has a genuine interest in the material, why not give everyone A's?
The Princeton article talks about job competitiveness, and the same thing could be said for graduate school. People looking at our transcripts aren't always going to know that it was easier for me to earn an A than it was for my competition from Princeton.
Of course, publishing median grades on transcripts was supposed to negate this issue. That A- doesn't look so good when the median grade is an A.
The percentage of Princeton grades in the A range dipped below 40 percent last year, down from nearly 50 percent when the policy was adopted in 2004. The class of 2009 had a mean grade-point average of 3.39, compared with 3.46 for the class of 2003. In a survey last year by the undergraduate student government, 32 percent of students cited the grading policy as the top source of unhappiness (compared with 25 percent for lack of sleep).Grade deflation is one of those things which sounds good in theory until it starts happening to you.
At Cornell, grading depends a lot on the type of class you take. I can remember only one time when I was the victim of grade deflation. It was a history class; our grade was primarily based on two pre-lim exams and a final. The tests were graded as points/100, which was converted on the standard scale (i.e. 88%=B+). I did well on the second pre-lim, but apparently the rest of the my section did as well. So even though I received around 90% credit on the test, I was told that the professor had lowered all of our grades. My 90% counted as a B-, which dropped my final grade to a B+.
I realize that professors, from time to time, make an effort to curb grade inflation in their particular classes. But many Cornell professors seem happy to reward hard work with an A. If you have 15 people in a seminar, and everyone works hard and has a genuine interest in the material, why not give everyone A's?
The Princeton article talks about job competitiveness, and the same thing could be said for graduate school. People looking at our transcripts aren't always going to know that it was easier for me to earn an A than it was for my competition from Princeton.
Of course, publishing median grades on transcripts was supposed to negate this issue. That A- doesn't look so good when the median grade is an A.
Tuesday, February 2, 2010
Denver Goalie Supporting Blake Gallagher?
Denver goalie Marc Cheverie, whose own name has been floated as a contender for the Hobey Baker, is a member of the "Blake Gallagher for Hobey Baker" Facebook group.
Cheverie played on the Nanaimo Clippers, which has served as a feeder program to Cornell recently. The Devins, Mike Garman, and Colin Greening would have played on the Clippers with Cheverie.
Cheverie is also Facebook friends with Gallagher, and they both hail from Nova Scotia.
Personally I think Scrivens is a more deserving candidate than Gallagher or anyone else on Cornell's roster. Gallagher has very little chance to win the award, since his production has tailed off recently and his 13-12-25 line is nowhere close to RPI forward Chase Polacek's 18-22-40, or Michigan State forward Corey Tropp's 19-19-38.
Harvard Should Quit the Beanpot
The Beanpot is the annual tournament between the four major Boston-area collegiate hockey teams: BU, BC, Northeastern, and Harvard.
Every year, Harvard's desire to play in the tournament forces the ECAC to make schedule adjustments so Harvard can play more conference games earlier.
And nearly every year, the Crimson's pathetic performance in the Beanpot thoroughly embarrasses the ECAC and hurts decent ECAC teams in the Pairwise Rankings by providing two opportunities for Hockey East teams to beat up on an ECAC squad.
Last night, in the semifinal, Harvard lost 6-0 to Boston College. Six. Nothing.
Harvard hasn't won the Beanpot since 1993. This is a feat which requires winning two hockey games, and Harvard hasn't been able to do that for 17 years.
In fact, Harvard has only made it to the championship game three times since that 1993 tournament. Three first-round wins in 17 years.
On the ECAC side of things, Harvard has actually been somewhat helpful to Cornell this season. The Crimson beat Quinnipiac, Yale, and Union in the last month; at various times this season those three teams have been battling Cornell for first place.
But, man, does Harvard suck in the Beanpot. (Actually, in all non-conference games. They don't have an out-of-conference win in two years.) Why don't they quit and let Bentley or UMass-Lowell play instead?
Update: Thanks to the Beanpot, Cornell moved from #10 to #13 in the Pairwise. BU, Michigan State, and Colorado College all moved ahead of the Big Red. Thanks, Harvard!
Every year, Harvard's desire to play in the tournament forces the ECAC to make schedule adjustments so Harvard can play more conference games earlier.
And nearly every year, the Crimson's pathetic performance in the Beanpot thoroughly embarrasses the ECAC and hurts decent ECAC teams in the Pairwise Rankings by providing two opportunities for Hockey East teams to beat up on an ECAC squad.
Last night, in the semifinal, Harvard lost 6-0 to Boston College. Six. Nothing.
Harvard hasn't won the Beanpot since 1993. This is a feat which requires winning two hockey games, and Harvard hasn't been able to do that for 17 years.
In fact, Harvard has only made it to the championship game three times since that 1993 tournament. Three first-round wins in 17 years.
On the ECAC side of things, Harvard has actually been somewhat helpful to Cornell this season. The Crimson beat Quinnipiac, Yale, and Union in the last month; at various times this season those three teams have been battling Cornell for first place.
But, man, does Harvard suck in the Beanpot. (Actually, in all non-conference games. They don't have an out-of-conference win in two years.) Why don't they quit and let Bentley or UMass-Lowell play instead?
Update: Thanks to the Beanpot, Cornell moved from #10 to #13 in the Pairwise. BU, Michigan State, and Colorado College all moved ahead of the Big Red. Thanks, Harvard!
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