2008 was really one to remember. How will history recall this year? Recession? Michael Phelps Gold Medal Run and Opening/Closing Ceremonies at the Olympics? 18-1? 0-16? Nope, history will remember 2008 most vividly when the name Barack Obama rings.

On November 4th, more than 69 million Americans cast their vote for change and elected Barack Obama the 44th President of the United States of America. It was a long and unprobable journey that started in February of 2007 in Illinois where Obama told frigid supporters of his longshot candidacy for our nation’s highest office. His resume was short and his national experience almost futile. But Barack Obama had the best political weapon of all, the people. The very people that started pleading with him in 2004 to run for President, when he had been a senator for just over a month.

The appeal to Barack Obama was we could all relate to the man. At a time in our country where we needed something to hold onto, here came this man with a goofy name that captured our optimism. “Too many people are feeling the American dream slip away”, Obama said often, “And as President I will work with you to reclaim that American dream.” That probably won him the Presidency right there.

Barack’s beliefs and straight to the core demeanor earned him people’s trust, and people in turn wanted to work for him. The Obama campaign organized the single greatest political grassroots and internet driven campaign to beat the politically established icons like Clinton and McCain.

Future Mr. President

Obama has never asked us to buy into something we couldn’t take. My favorite thing that he said all campaign was, “I will always be honest with you.” He isn’t selling us a pipedream or asking us to comprehend the deepest complexities of the global world. He instead asked us to believe we can make our world better, and that subscribing to the belief of change could bring America back to where it was. And while just ‘change’, ‘hope’, and ‘belief’ don’t bring tangible results- viable and sustained progress cannot be made until people are motivated to do so.

Maybe it was all hype, the next four years will determine that. But on November 4th the entire world cheered and danced in the streets to celebrate a new world. A world where a black kid with no Father can become the President of the United States. A world that showed that America still had better judgement than to allow the past eight years of failure continue. And a world where humans still grasped onto the notion of hope, and the fundamental belief that no how bad today was, the sun will still come up tomorrow, and a brighter day will come.

Hope, and the inherent admiration and possibilities, for the idea of a new world, with Barack Obama at the helm, are my favorite part of 2008.

Yes We Can & Yes We Did

The better off acknowleding this phone as supremely relavant, the better off we are all going to be. I really can’t say enough good things.

When I start splooging on the iPhone I catch some flack for it. People, for whatever reason, have a strong distaste for Apple products, until they try them!

The 3G has been out for the latter half of 2008. It’s cheaper, faster and a lot friendlier for business. Apple’s blockbuster smartphone already had nifty features such as visual voicemail, a splendid built-in video iPod and the best mobile Web browser I’ve ever used. With GPS newly added to the mix, this handheld marvel has no equal among consumer-oriented smartphones.

It’s hard to think of any other device that’s enjoyed the level of exposure and hype that Apple has found with their iPhone. People completely unaware f gadgets can recognize the name. I actually had a professor this semester that asked me, “Is that one of those internet thingies? Cool!”

The wireless industry is a notoriously tough nut to crack, and it was pretty clear that the first iPhone wasn’t about total domination so much as priming the market and making a good first impression with some very dissatisfied cellphone users. Mission accomplished there! With the iPhone 3G, though, Apple is playing for keeps. Not only is this iPhone’s Exchange enterprise support aiming straight for the heart of the business market, but the long-awaited 3rd party application support and App Store means it’s no longer just a device, but a viable computing platform. And its 3G network compatibility finally makes the iPhone welcome the world over, especially after Cupertino decided to ditch its non-traditional carrier partnerships in favor of dropping the handset price dramatically. Apple? Cheap? WHAT?

The thing is just so darn practical I can’t recommend it enough. Do you sometimes need directions? Do you check stocks? Do you like instant email? Do you like playing games when bored? Do you surf the internet? Do you blog? Do you check Facebook? And the list goes on, and on, and onnn.

Real internet on a mobile device

Apple’s presence has re-energized the handheld computing category, practically begging smartphone rivals for a response: Witness the countless released “iPhone killers” just in the past six months.

An accurate capacitive touchscreen and well optimized mobile processors form the basis of that experience, but the iPhone continues to derives its real power in usability. The iPhone 3G and the second release of mobile OS X have given the device numerous useful new features while keeping in line with expectations that they not slow down the experience, nor overwhelm new or experienced users.

While users do need to get used to ‘tapping’, ‘flicking’, and ‘pinching’ techniques that the iPhone offers, all are very intuitive and easy to learn. If my Mom can do it, anyone can, trust me.

Easily the most significant addition to the iPhone 3G is the App Store, which finally enables users to trick out their phone with whatever programs make it through Apple’s rigorous developer screening and software testing process. While it’s worth noting that apps must meet Apple approval before granted access to the store, it sorts out some of the riff-raff applications that aren’t ‘Apple friendly’. Controversial maybe, but I have no qualms.

If you’re an avid BlackBerry, or Windows Mobile / Exchange user, chances are you might think the iPhone 3G is Apple playing catch-up — and you’re not wrong. 3G, GPS, third party apps, enterprise messaging, these are all old hat. But even the would-be iPhone killers being churned out weekly haven’t yet found a way to counter the iPhone’s usability and seamless integration of service and software, desktop and mobile, and media and internet.

There are always things that could be improved, features to be added, fixes that should be applied but Apple has proven itself a relentless upstart in the mobile space, and is showing no signs of slowing down. All those new features give the iPhone even more appeal than ever, but the price is what really seals the deal.

You’re going to have a hard time finding a better device for two hundred bucks — or maybe even for any price truly And that is why the iPhone 3G is one of my favorite things about 2008!

There are occasional roles in cinema that define genres, generations, and the very idea of what greatness truly is. Brando comes to mind in The Godfather, Hoffman in Rainman, maybe Hanks in Forrest Gump, etc – roles that are so well acted you sometimes have to stop and ask yourself, “Is this really happening?”

What history will recall as the soon to be largest grossing domestic film of all-time, The Dark Knight was Heath Ledger’s final farewell. But what all of us will remember from this film was Ledger’s Joker character, and its already nominated Golden Globe and almost surely to follow Oscar accredidation. Not too be diminished were the works of Oldman as  Gordon or Eckert as Harvey Dent, both of which are of my favorite actors and on the top of their game in this one.

Heath Ledger always intrigued me. He was thrust into the teenie-bopper heartthrob role after 10 Things I Hate About You and The Patriot- and he hated it. Truth be told, Heath was a person not built for the limelight. Mr. Ledger was one of the finest actors of this generation and only truly coming into his own in his beloved career path.

Already nominated for an Academy Award for Brokeback Mountain, I fully expect another nomination this Oscar season but with a posthumous victory for the fallen actor. Hopefully the acceptance speech is from his Father or maybe close family friend Daniel Day Lewis.

We must not remember Heath Ledger as a method actor who allowed himself to dive away- dive into his roles, the underground, from the spotlight of the paparazzi, into his upbringing of his new daughter, or the drugs, etc.

Instead we must remember and celebrate Heath as a devoted human being who took the complexities of the world around him with a passion that most would call “sick” or “crazy”.

Let us all hope that Heath Ledger has found the peace he could never attain here on Earth. And let us not forget his mesmerizing Joker portrayal, that could not have been played by anyone else, or his would-have future achievements to American cinema.

RIP Mr. Ledger.

Father. Thinker. Icon. Brilliance in Motion.

With the inauguration of President-elect Obama looming, and his promise to “once again make science the top American priority”, I can only hope he lobbies for the gradual implementation of the metric system.

America is basically a laughing stock to the advanced world for failing to comply with the internationally accepted metric system, instead continuing with the more complicated English standard.

Would it be appropriate for President Obama to push such legislation? We already allowed ourselves this much ‘change’, why not keep progressing?

For those wondering about America’s metric interest: Congress passed the Metric Conversion Act of 1975 “to coordinate and plan the increasing use of the metric system in the United States”. The Act, however, did not require a ten-year conversion period. A process of voluntary conversion was initiated, and the U.S. Metric Board (USMB) was established for planning, coordination, and public education. In 1981, the Board reported to Congress that it lacked the clear Congressional mandate necessary to bring about national conversion. Due to this apparent ineffectiveness, and in a Reagan effort to reduce federal spending, as well as conscious efforts by Reagan administration officials to end metrication, the Metric Board was disbanded in the fall of 1982.

I remember my Dad saying Kodak park instituted tons of metric standards and never ended up having to use them. Tons of kids across America have trouble with advanced science classes because of a fundamental inability to grasp metric conversions. It’s an absolute travesty, and yet we sit here and wring our hands about why our children test so poorly when their knowledge is compared to the rest of the world’s.

Thomas Friedman wrote in an op-ed for the NY Times this week that, “If we’re so smart, why are other people living so much better than us? What has become of our infrastructure, which is so crucial to productivity?…My fellow Americans, we can’t continue in this mode of ‘Dumb as we wanna be.”

People will complain that metric is too hard. That thinking in new conversion terms is too difficult. Americans don’t like to work hard. It’s not hard to think in metric, it’s actually easier. It’s just different thinking in metric, and older folks don’t like change. People have no idea how much a kilogram is because they have no experience with one. A little exposure and they’d learn fast. Once they get to know metric, converting it to any other metric is extremely simple and easy to do in your head. Just move the decimal place around. With the English system you must have a calculator or estimate in your head. Metric would be a powerful move.

The reason we failed to convert to the metric system in the first place was that everyone tried to keep the English standard under the covers. 55mph speed limits became 88kph, make it 100kph for ease. A 5lb bag of sugar was 2.27kg, make it 2 or 3 kg.

Twenty years after abandoning the metric system, we still have 2l bottles for soda and run 5k races.

And the end of the day, for a conversion to be successful, society needs to think in metric, even if you’re still converting in your head.

It won’t be easy. And it will probably piss a lot of people off. We’ll see cheap bumper stickers claiming ‘Our metrics don’t run’ on lots of trucks. We’ll hear more about socialism and Freedom Fried but enough is enough America. As Mr. Friedman said, “We can’t continue in this mode of ‘Dumb as we wanna be.”

Map of Metric system use highlighted in Green. For those scoring at home, that leaves America, Liberia, and Burma in Black.

I predicted Buffalo would finally get back to the playoffs this year. And then they started out 4-0. Not only was Buffalo going to end their decade long playoff drought, they were maturing into one of the league’s best teams. Oh, that was a really good month. The Bills are now 6-7 and losers of 6 of their past 7 games. As the Bills have engineered one of the worst collapses in their history we get little indication from the organization that they understand the issues and are ready to address them in the name of providing a better product for the weary fans.

I was just fine with the Cardinals loss. They are a tough team at home and we had no hope with Losman at the helm. I was okay losing at Miami. They are an improved team and we always run into trouble against them down there. But when Buffalo lost at home on Monday night to a pitiful Cleveland team I knew this team wasn’t playoff bound. A few people told me I was being too pessimistic and negative- I prefer to think that I am just knowledgeable and ahead of the curve.

The stagnation is tough to take when you’ve suffered through the past 9 seasons without a playoff berth. Over that same span of time, 30 of the 32 other NFL teams have figured out how to pull together at least one playoff season. And one of those teams, the Cardinals, just won their division and clinched a playoff spot. Put another way, only 2 teams have toiled in futility since 1999 – the Detroit Lions and the Buffalo Bills. Yeah, how’s that taste? The Lions have been the poster franchise for NFL futility and the Bills are quickly becoming their counterpart.

The NFL is cyclical with much parity. Teams that are bad benefit from the draft and free agency and start to win games and teams that are good lose players due to the salary cap and fall from the top of the rankings. It’s a great system, one designed to keep fans from giving up on their teams as they weather rough patches.  So how is that every other team, save one, has figured out a way to succeed in the NFL? I’m not asking for the team to 16-0 or win the AFC four years in a row again. But can’t they find some way, any way, to not be so damn mediocre?

I am tired of the “next season” and the “1 or 2 years away” phrases I always hear. We have been saying that for years- where is the improvement? So what’s wrong? Who’s to blame? Is it player talent as Ralph Wilson said this weekend? Is it coaching? Probably both.

The Bills have some serious holes in talent. The defensive line is devoid of a pass rush (Schobel, Denney, & Kelsay should all leave), the Bills still have no talent at tight end (God I hate you Robert Royal), the secondary lacks depth to account for injuries and multi-receiver sets, the offensive line is not living up to their heft or their paychecks in short yardage situations or pass blocking, there is no #2 WR, and the special teams hasn’t been in its usual spectacular form the past few months (Lindell & Moorman notably). Shortage of talent needs to be applied to poor drafts. Marv Levy had two excellent drafts but we are still hurting from Tom Donahoe’s poor management.

I really believe Tredwards is going to be a great QB for the Bills for many years. He does need to learn how to play better in the cold and toughen up a little bit when the weather becomes, well, Buffalo weather. JP Losman will probably be out of a job in a few months. We’re not going to resign him, and given his past and games this year, I don’t see anyone giving him a contract even in a backup role with backup dollars. Marshawn Lynch is a freakin tank and one of the better Running Backs in football. Carrying the rock 13 times a game is a travesty, give him the ball please! He can handle the load of a 25 carry per game schedule damnit.

But talent alone doesn’t explain it. I really don’t believe the Bills are a bad team, average yes, but definitely playoff caliber. I mean, does anyone really think Miami is a more talented team top to bottom than Buffalo? I don’t, but the Dolphins may win the division or clinch a wildcard spot and are likely to finish at least 2 wins better than Buffalo – why?

If you’re a good football fan, you can see that the Bills have been completely outcoached game after game (Especially Turk’s playcalling- even if it is his 1st year as offensive coordinator). Running against 8 in the box and passing against nickel and dime packages. Throwing in short yardage situations (Especially in the red zone). Vanilla plays when some imagination is required (think 3rd and long and a draw to Jackson), getting overly cute when a straightforward approach is needed (3rd and 2 screens to Josh Reed?). Waste timeout after timeout because players and coaches don’t know what play to call and who should be on and off the field. Waste even more timeouts by challenging plays that obviously shouldn’t be challenged and allow other coaches to throw the red flag when you manage to get away with something.  Failure to stick with the run when it’s working and maybe the worst, showing NO emotion in any situation. Football is an emotional game. Players feed off and thrive off the emotion of their coaches. The Bills sideline looks like a silent auction.

Jauron’s a nice guy. He’s a very bright guy – an Ivy Leaguer. I’m sure he watches lots of tape and works very hard. The players don’t seem to hate him, so that’s a good thing. I’m sure he wants to win and be successful. But when it comes right down to it, he isn’t the coach this team needs and its reflective on the field where he just isn’t getting the job done.

So why is Dick Jauron the coach of the Buffalo Bills? The answer lies with Ralph Wilson. Ralph Wilson, at 90 something years old, is a man of another era. An era where players played hard, team loyalty was all important, and players and coaches were role models. Character and sportsmanship were important and mattered. Players and coaches were well to do, but not rich. In Ralph’s mind, a coach should be like Marv Levy- smart, loyal, humble, and of outstanding character. It helps if he’ll work for cheap, as nice guys often do. In short, Wilson wants the coach everyone used to want.

The problem is, these coaches aren’t wanted anymore. This is the era of big money – $100 or more for a ticket, $50 to park, corporate luxury boxes rather than an afternoon with your pop, players making untold millions and switching teams when the dollars are there, stealing sideline signals by videotape, and win at all costs attitudes.

I like that the Bills honor the blue collar qualities that Buffalo and Western NY represent. We are honorable, working class people that put a lot of stock into character. But this isn’t your neighbor. It’s about winning and its high time the Bills understood that and started winning. Bring me a jerk – a Jimmy Johnson, a Bill Belichick, a Bill Parcells, just bring me someone who wants to win. Hell, bring me the best of both worlds, Bill Cowher. Therein lies the proverbial rub, none of those coaches would probably want to come to Buffalo right now with the stagnant quagmire the franchise seems to be in.

So what the hell do they do? If you keep Jauron you continue down a road of mediocrity, never to get to the next level. If you make a change you start over again as the Bills have done 3 times in recent history. Constantly blowing up the organization does not move it forward – its stunts its growth considerably. So what do you do? What’s the best option when all are bad?

I really don’t know. I am so past the level of frustration and disapointment that I have no tangible solutions. But you can’t start 4-0 and be 6-7 now.

So… any ideas?

The Secret Service traditionally has given private names to those whose lives they protect. The monikers are a throwback to a time when electronic communications were not encrypted, and they no longer serve a security function. Still, they give an occasional peek at the players’ personalities, in addition to serving as great trivia questions. Here is a little list of past and present code names.

Barack Obama – Renegade       Michelle Obama – Renaissance

Malia Obama – Radiance       Sasha Obama – Rosebud

Joe Biden – Celtic       Jill Biden – Capri

George W. Bush – Tumbler       Laura Bush – Tempo

Bill Clinton – Eagle       Hillary Clinton – Evergreen       Chelsea Clinton – Energy

George HW Bush – Timberwolf       Barbara Bush – Tranquility

Jimmy Carter – Deacon       Rosalynn Carter – Dancer

Ronald Reagan – Rawhide       Nancy Reagan – Rainbow

Gerald Ford – Passkey       Betty Ford – Pinafore

Richard Nixon – Searchlight     Pat Nixon – Starlight

Lyndon B. Johnson – Volunteer       Lady Bird Johnson – Victoria

John F. Kennedy – Lancer       Jacqueline Kennedy – Lace

Eisenhower – Providence       Truman – General

College Football is flawed. I know it, you know it. Hell, Mack Brown, Bob Stoops, Urban Meyer, Pete Carroll, and even Barack Obama know it.

There are five teams atop the BCS rankings, each of which is more than qualified to play for the National Championship.

Alabama, Florida, Texas, Oklahoma, and USC. There’s the fab five. If the season ended today, there would be no way to legitimately sort out who would play for the title.

Oklahoma will play Missouri in the Big 12 Championship game this week. Assuming they win, they would be given a shot to play for the National Championship.

Florida plays Alabama this Saturday for the SEC Championship. Not many people are giving Alabama a chance in this one and I can’t blame them. Despite Alabama being the nation’s lone BCS conference unbeaten team and ranked #1 in the polls, I don’t see anyone slowing Florida down right now. Even with Percy Harvin possibly sidelined, Florida is the team to beat going forward. Unless Tebow gets hurt, and that is a big rarity, Florida is my pick in that one – which would send Florida to the National Championship for a Florida-Oklahoma title game.

Florida-Oklahoma. Probably the two most talented teams in the country. I wouldn’t have a problem with it. But what about Texas? Texas has only one loss, like Florida and Oklahoma, and they beat Oklahoma. My gut tells me that the tiebreaker should be the head-to-head result, the Big 12 Conference differs.

But how about if Missouri upsets Oklahoma? Then the BCS has to pick which team would play Alabama or Florida, and I assume it would be USC, a team that has had a cake schedule and really flown under the national radar this year.

Would a playoff system cure college football’s ills? I don’t know. I want to say yes. But what we have right now is definitely exciting. With the current BCS structure, every single game is a playoff game because teams can’t afford any losses. Also, the cash that comes with a bowl game entrance is HUGE for school’s. It would be touch for the chancellor’s to vote for their conference to be in favor of a playoff if it means their athletic program is going to be down $8 million in next year’s budget.

BCS haters should be rooting for Missouri this week vs Oklahoma, because then there would be a backlash against the system by having to select only one of the one-beatens to play the SEC winner, and that could be enough to see some kind of playoff format next season.

It is a flawed system indeed, it isn’t perfect. But it generates more discussion that just about anything in sports, and as the stupid quote says, “Any press is good press.”