Pete Gillen and other Sports Notes

Good evening.

I just came back from the gym and had to share this interesting experience.

As a Cincinnati kid, Xavier has always been the hometown favorite when it comes to College Basketball. Who do the rest of you like? The Bearcats? WHAT THUGS! Anyways, back in the "day", Pete Gillen coached the Musketeers. He moved on from Xavier and eventually ended up at Virginia, where I now study. A few weeks ago, after another dismal Cavalier basketball season, Gillen was fired. But, to my surprise, he still has gym privileges. How do I know this? you ask. Its simple: I SHOWERED with PETE GILLEN. Okay, its not like that. Its a locker room thing. Maybe you don't get it!

In other sports news, I must say that I am terribly disappointed by the layout/presentation of content on all major sports web sites. Espn.com is an absolute joke that is overloaded with Flash and links to commentary. Cnnsi.com does not have any discernable news content on the front page -- like ESPN.com, it is heavy on commentary. I must say that I don't care at all about what the pundits have to say. I want the scores, the rundown of the game. If, while reading the box scores, I notice something interesting, maybe then I would enjoy reading commentary. For instance, if I was reading the box score (recap) of a game between the Boston Red Sox and someone else and there happened to be a fight (yes, Red Sox and "fight" are redundant) then I would want to read what the experts have to say. Otherwise, leave me with the facts. I think that sportsline.com is the only remotely passable site. They have a live updating scoreboard that is especially great during March Madness. I have not had much occasion to use it for other sports, but for basketball it is incredible. The technology behind it is rather simple, but they were one of the first people to put it into practice. Today, this is referred to as AJAX -- asynchronous javascript and XML. What hacks! ;-)

Keep up the great work!