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you keep insisting that your

you keep insisting that your interpretation of that quote is the only possible one, even though it relies on an illogical leap that makes no sense in light of the rest of the post.

your entire self-righteous rant about how Brian shouldn't dare to write about the Fab5 because he's clearly (by his own admission) not the world's leading expert on them is based on your assumption that this quote : "I knew Chris Webber until I watched him play"  means that Brian is saying Webber's playing = = Webber's character, which doesn't make any sense at all.

all the quote says is that Webber's playing made him question what he knew about Chris Webber. he thought he knew this thing, until this other thing happened. then he didn't know the first thing any more. does that mean he made a new judgement about Webber? we don't know. all that quote says is that he retracted the first one.

and what does the rest of the post tell us? does Brian claim that now he "knows" Webber? or make any new judgements about his character? or say, "he must be a great guy because boy can he throw a pass?" No. the title of the post, and the entire thrust of it, is that he doesn't know Webber's side of the story, he doesn't have enough information to judge, his initial judgements were wrong.

So I think the more logical interpretation, in light of the title of the post, what precedes that quote, and what follows it, is that that means seeing Webber play made him question both his assumptions about Webber as an athlete and as a person.

and holy cats, man. Brian was writing about HIS memories of the Fab5, which he introduced by saying were fuzzy and vague, HIS emotional response to the documentary about them, and HIS desire to hear Webber's side of the story. who's a better authority on those things than Brian himself?

your logic is wrong

This is basically what ThWard said below, but I'm going to try to make it clearer:

Brian thought he knew what made Webber a good basketball player, but watching him play for the Pistons made him realize that he was wrong.

The fact that he was wrong about Webber as a player made him question his assessment of Webber as a person.

Brian isn't proposing some kind of necessary relationship between Webber's playing and his character. He's saying that there might be a relationship betweeen two judgements he made at 14: one turned out to be wrong, so he began to think the other one might be wrong, too. 

He doesn't say he was definitely wrong about his judgement about Webber's character. He says he's not sure if he was right. Because maybe his judgement was based on incomplete information, or an immature perspective, or who knows what else might have also influenced his assessment of Webber's playing. Thus his desire to hear Webber's story.

Not to mention that you'd basically have to have never read the site before to think that Brian makes character judgements based on "athletic feats."

This was a remarkably eloquent post.

something like that

I usually something somewhere between Keller's recipe and Marcella Hazan's "Chicken with Two Lemons" : http://soursaltybittersweet.com/content/simple-roast-chicken-or-more-adventures-amateur-meat-preparation

And these grilled drumsticks are pretty darn close: http://soursaltybittersweet.com/content/labor-day-lemon-herb-chicken-drumsticks

homemade bean/mushroom burgers

first, a caveat: I remain unconvinced that red meat qua red meat is bad for human health (see, for example, the recent Harvard review study that found no correlation between red meat consumption and heart disease or diabetes, but did find an association with processed/cured meats, which has likely driven the correlations in studies that don't differentiate because people who eat more red meat also eat more bacon). certainly the mechanisms most often proposed--that dietary saturated fat and/or dietary cholesterol cause atherosclerosis--don't appear to be valid (i've written more about this here and here)

nonetheless, I support people making whatever changes they feel they need to in order to improve their health and well-being. i find most commercial veggie burgers to be pretty awful, and given that they're often soy-based, it's not clear that they're actually any better for human health. so both in terms of taste and health, you're probably better off making your own. the best ones I've had are homemade black bean and/or mushroom burgers. here are some recipes from other folks, none of which I've tried personally but which sound pretty okay.

best of luck.

also, to add to the earlier comment re: agave being no better, and actually probably worse than hfcs, cutting refined sugar and starches will probably do far more for your health than cutting red meat. but there is no "good" sugar. some may contain more vitamins and minerals, but hfcs is not significantly worse nutritionally than white sugar, honey, brown sugar, agave nectar, etc. glucose syrups like regular corn syrup and brown rice syrup might be your best bet and even those are probably best used in moderation.

exactly. and the brochure was

exactly. and the brochure was basically claiming that it was better by virtue of coming from Indonesia. which is like advertising that your mustard made from 100% real mustard seeds, as if even the cheapest yellow stuff you can buy isn't. being from Indonesia is not a selling point for cinnamon.

recipe(s)

i know you were kidding, but in case anyone wants to re-create the baseketball cake (hey, it's a time for celebration, no?):

Golden almond cake

For one 9x13 layer (x2/3 for one 9" round pan, the above is a two-layer cake, so double the ingredients but mix batches separately)

3 eggs
1 cup sour cream
1.5 tsp. almond extract
3/8 tsp. vanilla extract
2.5 cups cake flour (8.625 oz)
.5 cups ground almonds (1.875 oz)
1.5 cups sugar
3/4 tsp. baking powder
3/4 tsp. baking soda
3/4 tsp. salt
18 T. butter

Preheat oven to 350. Grease pan, line bottom with parchment, grease again and flour. In medium bowl, combine eggs, 1/4 cup sour cream, and extracts. In mixing bowl, combine cake flour, almonds, sugar, baking powder, baking soda, and salt and mix 30 seconds to blend. Add the butter and 3/4 cup sour cream to the dry ingredients and mix on low until dry ingredients are moistened. Increase to medium speed and beat 1 1/2 minutes to aerate and develop structure. Scrape down sides of bowl. Add egg mixture in three batches, beating 20 seconds after each addition to incorporate. Scrape down sides. Spread evenly in prepared pan. Bake 35-45 min or until wire cake tester inserted in center comes out clean and cake springs back when pressed lightly. Let cool in pan on rack for 10 min, loosen sides gently with metal spatula and unmold onto greased rack (ha). Let cool 1 hr before frosting or wrapping airtight

Sour cream ganache (to fill between layers)

8 oz. dark chocolate (60%+)
4 oz. milk chocolate
1 2/3 cups sour cream

Melt chocolate in double broiler, remove from heat and stir in sour cream.

Buttercream stabilized with egg yolks (for crumb coat and tinted decorations)

6 large egg yolks
3/4 cup sugar
1/2 cup corn syrup
2 cups softened butter
2-4 T. liqueur or eau de vie or 1-2 t. extract (I used amaretto, and almond and vanilla extracts)

Grease a glass liquid measure. Beat yolks until light and lemon-colored. Combine sugar and corn syrup in small saucepan and bring to a rolling boil, immediately transfer to prepared measure. Pour in a steady stream into yolks, beating continuously. Don't let the syrup fall on the beater(s) or it will spin onto the sides and harden. Continue beating until completely cool. Gradually add butter, and then extracts. If made in advance, re-beat before using to restore texture. Yield: ~4 cups, enough to fill and frost one 2-layer 9" round cake.

Buttercream stabilized with egg whites (for main covering)

5 large egg whites
1 cup sugar
1/4 cup water
1/2 + 1/8 tsp. cream of tartar
2 cups butter, softened but cool (65F)
up to 3 fl oz. liqueur and/or extract (amaretto again)

Grease a glass liquid measure min. 1 cup. Beat butter until creamy. Combine 3/4 cup sugar and water in small saucepan and heat until sugar dissolves and bubbles appear; reduce heat to low (off if electric range). Beat egg whites until foamy. Add cream of tartar, and beat until soft peaks form. Gradually add 1/4 cup sugar and beat until stiff peaks form. Return sugar syrup to medium heat and cook until 248-250F (firm ball stage). Pour in a steady stream into whites, beating continuously. Don't let the syrup fall on the beater(s) or it will spin onto the sides and harden. Continue beating until completely cool. Gradually add butter, and then extracts. It may look curdled, but then emulsify with the last of the butter. If the butter is too soft, it won't come together--try adding a few tablespoons of colder butter. If made in advance, re-beat before using to restore texture. If chilled, allow to come to room temperature before re-beating or it will curdle. Yield: ~4 cups, enough to fill and frost one 2-layer 9" round cake.

Oh, and for the "baseketball," I basically made a flat cupcake in a 4 oz. custard cup. And gave it wonky ganache "stitches."

All adapted from Rose Levy Beranbaum's Cake Bible (she's the Alton Brown of serious baking, really and for truly).

winners of the popular vote

winners of the popular vote got the books that were promised, and he did actually put up the winner of the popular vote until the guy whose photo was sampled threw a hissy fit, even though it wasn't his favorite one.  so i don't know where you get off, exactly.

as he noted, this happened last year too, and as others have noted, it's his site.  he might ask for popular opinion, but he never promised to be governed by it. maybe that should be made explicit in future banner contests for the whiners in the crowd: the popular vote determines only that--what is popular, and maybe there's a reward for that, but brian puts up whatever he wants to put up. 

anyhow, it might more fun to see a rotating selection of the submissions throughout the year as relevant and/or funny.  i wouldn't want to look at them all the time, but i bet there's humor to be mined from the paint banner and naked man.  

and fwiw, i think this banner rocks.  it's the perfect visual representation of the expertise and precision that make this blog what it is, emphasizes the winged helmet that represents so much of what makes michigan football what it is, and it's beautifully designed.

the essay on Lynch in A

the essay on Lynch in A Supposedly Fun Thing explains it--a lot of it his own awkwardness.  i don't think the lack of interview prevents him from getting into lynch's mind.

I stand corrected about

I stand corrected about volleyball.  I'm also suddenly confused why it's not a revenue-generating sport. 

As for credit hours, I assume they have to be enrolled as full-time students, which means 12 credits min.  I wouldn't be against the NCAA relaxing that requirement, but I doubt that's going to happen.  Students first, etc.  Slocum wouldn't be helped by the extension in any case. 

Again, lots of people who aren't working a full-time job and are likely to be better prepared to deal with college classes, blow-off or otherwise, take longer than 4 years to finish with or without summer classes.   And the blow-off classes aren't always easy for athletes.  I was a GSI for the History of Popular Music, which is basically the quintessential blow-off class, and the football players in my sections worked really hard for pretty unimpressive grades.  I've also been a GSI for the writing requirement, which no one gets out of and that class is hard.  The student-athlete I had in that class was on the verge of deconstructing the entire semester, and the poor kid wasn't even on full scholarship.  For the most part, their talents lie elsewhere.  I feel bad for them that anyone cares if they can get Cs in the History of Popular Music.  Really, what's the point?

But I think if they're going to get paid in degrees (the wisdom of which I'm pretty skeptical about), programs should give them as good of a shot at getting those degrees as possible. 

MRG covered the issues with

MRG covered the issues with your analogy.  I have a problem with your base assumption that it would be undesirable for athletes to concentrate less on their classes.  I know the official line is that they're students first and athletes second, but I don't think that squares with reality.  Few, if any, of them would be at Michigan if they weren't football players.  As Brian has posted elsewhere, football alone takes up more time than a full-time job.  And at schools like Michigan those hours of work are generating serious revenue, a lot of which supports other athletic programs and stratospheric coach's salaries.  The scholarships are their compensation, and for the majority who won't go on to the NFL, the degree and education it supposedly represents is another form of compensation. 

I think the programs owe it to the players to give them a chance to finish the degree when they aren't working 40+ hrs/week and, as Brian suggests, after they've been disabused of the notion that they're going to make a living as an athlete.  I do think it's too much to ask of some of them to "keep their grades up" and finish a degree in four years.  Lots of people who aren't working 40+ hrs/wk and have substantially greater academic skills take longer.

I don't know what non-revenue-generating programs should do, but I think making sure players graduate is a better use of money than college volleyball.

hallo pip pip cheerio!
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