Football thoughts leading up to the big game

As you no doubt know, I happen to be a HUGE football fan. I enjoy all facets of the game, and devote a great deal of my life from August through January to studying the art of the pigskin. These are the smatterings of my thoughts before the Superbowl.

I don't exactly have a vested interest in this game, being a huge Dolphins fan and really not living any where near either team. I have aproximately 3 friends from the Pitt area, which in itself is enough to make me route for the Steelers (I know exactly NO ONE from Seattle, discounting Becky's brother who moved there 24 hours ago). But there's a number of other reasons as well.

For one, I could really care less about either coach, but I like the "idea" of coach Cowher way more than the idea of "Holmgren". Don't get me wrong, I always route for history to be rewritten, so the fact Holmgren could be the first coach to win SuperBowls with two different teams (remember he did it a few years back when the Packers beat the Pats) is tempting. But I'd really rather not see Holmgren be that first guy. Consider that this first guy will be put on a level above coaches like Shula, Vermeil, and Parcells, to name a few of the more recent coaches who came close to winning Super Bowls with different teams. Shula got a perfect season, Vermeil ran one of the most prolific offenses in the history of the game, Parcells manages to coach without being laughed at despite looking absolutely ridiculous. But what has Holmgren done? Mike Shanahan is often criticized for riding the coat tails of Elway, how has no one said the same thing of Holmgren and Favre? I feel like he's just doing the same thing now with Shaun Alexander. My other knock on Holmgren is that probably the biggest thing he is known for is the coaches he has had work for him. A partial list includes Jon Gruden, Steve Mariucci, Andy Reid, Ray Rhodes, Dick Jauron, and Mike Sherman. So yes, Holmgren has a talent for finding good support, but is that something that really dictates greatness?

And then there's Bill Cowher. I like the idea of Cowher mostly because he's been in Pitt forever. As player loyalty and team loyalty continues to decline, I like seeing a team loyal to someone, even if it's just the coach. Don't forget, the Steelers had some pretty bad years in there 3 and 4 years ago, but management stuck with Cowher.

Another big reason to route for the Steelers: Marino went to the Superbowl early in his career, lost, and then never made it back. In the "Greatest of All Time" discussion when Marino comes up that's all anyone can talk about; that he has no SuperBowl jewelry. As a Marino fan, I don't wish this upon anyone else.

Moving in a totally different direction, why do we have a Super Bowl in Detroit? Other than Jerome Bettis's home coming I really can't think of any good reason. Crime is worst in the country there, and last time they hosted the Super Bowl in '82 the 49ers were forced to walk a mile to the stadium because of snowfall. Bill Simmons has made a lot of good points on this topic, a few of which I will reiterate here. No SuperBowl should ever be played outside of San Diego, New Orleans, or Miami, with the possible exception of Vegas if they were to build a stadium. I think I would add LA and NYC to this list, but they would need to have stadium work as well. Another Simmons point: the Super Bowl has been played in exactly 12 locations, each one corresponding to a member of the 1992 Dream Team. New Orleans is Bird, Miami is Jordan, San Diego is Magic, and Jacksonville is Laettner. I'm giving Detroit the title of Chris Mullen: I know they were big at some point, but really I don't think they contribute much.

Of course, Miami gets the Super Bowl back next year, so all will be well. All will be AWESOME if Miami can become the first team in Super Bowl history to play a Super Bowl in their own stadium, but for that we will have to wait and see.

Why the Blackberry Lawsuit doesn't add up

Within the next month, the Blackberry Lawsuit should be 100% settled. Recently, a date of February 24th was set as the date where it will be decided if an injunction is needed and how much RIM owes NTP.

If you don't know, a Blackberry is a wireless device that people use to check email. Sounds simple enough, but they are so addictive they have earned the nickname "CrackBerry". NTP, a Virginia based company, is suing Research in Motion (RIM, the makers of Blackberries) for patent infringement. This article, while being dated and not having the most recent events of the past two months, describes the history of the case pretty well. Essentially, the suit has gone back and forth of the past few years. At some point there was a settlement, then the settlement fell through. Then there was an injunction, which was appealed and revoked.

Now the case is in the Supreme Court. Some predict RIM and NTP will settle before the February 24th date, and the settlement is likely to be somewhere between 450 million and 1 billion dollars (the original "settlement" was 250 million). The Supreme Court will also decide whether or not to serve an injunction, meaning that Blackberry's would have to basically shut off within 30 days of the ruling.

Now that we're all clear on the history, here's why this suit doesn't add up:

1. Who cares if the patents are valid? So the US Supreme Court is going to rule on February 24th if RIM has infringed on NTP's packets. Great, except that 4 days later the Patent and Trade Commission (PTC) is going to rule if the patents are even valid in the first place. In about the only good thing that has happened to RIM in this case recently, the PTC has decided to review NTP's patents, "and as of September 2005 had preliminarily invalidated all 1,921 claims in the eight pertinent NTP patents, including all those that form the basis for NTP's suit." (I highly suggest that last article, so I'm going to link it again) So naturally, you would think that no ruling should be made until the PTC decides whether or not the patents are valid, right? Well, one of RIM's many appeals was that the Supreme Court wait until after the February 28th PTC ruling (yes, that's right, 4 whole days), but this appeal was rejected.
   
2. You shouldn't use technology that infringes on people's patents... Unless you are the government - One of RIM's biggest customers happens to be the United States government. The US Government is now filling papers in this case as a third party, saying that should an injunction happen, government workers Blackberry devices must continue to work and be exempt from the injunction. I do not need to point out the troubling irony (but I will) that the United States government, or more specifically the CIA and FBI, are evidently totally reliant on this foreign company (that's true, Canada isn't REALLY foreign. I mean they have a conservative government now too).
   
3. But what do you REALLY want? Try to follow this logic with me for a moment: NTP wants money from RIM. RIM makes money from Blackberries. If Blackberries cannot operate or be sold, RIM doesn't make money. If RIM doesn't make money, NTP can't take it. Herego, NTP doesn't want an injunction, right?
4. I'm taking my patents and I'm going home! - It is of couse possible that NTP doesn't want RIM competing with their products. Take a moment to go to NTP's website and see the products they make. Find the site? I had trouble too. I think it's here, but I'm admittedly not sure, because all this site has is an under construction logo as of this post. Anyway, as far as anyone can tell, NTP does not have any products. They have not licensed their patents to anyone else. So they aren't losing any money because of RIM. They have had these patents since 1992; TEN years before they sued RIM. Isn't there some statute of limitations that you have to use a patent or risk losing it? Didn't we learn this in Computers in Society? Didn't the professor mention this somewhere between her babbling about how she and Bob Dylan went on a date to Martin Luther King Jr's "I have a dream" speech and her claim that Microsoft is going patent your brain so you can't use it without their permission?

That last line was an inside joke, and a story for another entry...

So much work...

So last semester was the semester of one week I have nothing to do, and then the next week I have EVERYTHING to do. This semester is turning into this week I have EVERYTHING to do, and next week I can't think about yet because I have too much to do. If you must know, I have an entire calendar/GPS buddy tracker system to design for HCI (Human Computer Interaction, and don't ask me how a calendar and a GPS buddy tracking system go together), a Java/MoteIV/ZigBee/Echo program (really, that's the best description, so don't ask), Lisp AI stuff, and more JavaScript work in Web Development all due by Friday. Also, my HCI professor decided he wasn't satisfied with class participation today, so we have a quiz on 5 chapters of reading on Friday. Yes! And then there's Ultimate: Team runs Tuesday Wednesday Thursday, practice Friday.

There's a new campaign out on BzzAgent as of today. If you don't know, BzzAgent is basically this website that sends me free samples of things so that me and my friends can try them out and hopefully like them. Companies get market saturation, I get free stuff. Pretty good deal. If you're interested, let me know, I'll hook you up, and get more free stuff.

Anyway, the latest thing is java.com. Immediately I'm thinking to myself, "Awesome, techie Java stuff like I use in class and at work." Not so much, but sort of. I think java.com used to just link to the Java developer site, java.sun.com. But now they've turned java.com into a games/apps/mobile stuff site where you can get cool java apps. There's some good stuff, there's a mapping application similair to google maps, but it also works in Europe and the Middle East (though not Israel). Also, there's a bunch of wonderful time-wasting games which I clearly shouldn't be looking at this week.

Welcome

So welcome to my new blog. I figure it's an unconstructive way for me to waste time. Yeah, I don't think unconstructive is a word either. Anyway, the name of the blog is pretty irrelevant. "Where the Wild Things Blog" barely edged out "Count the Rock Cooties" because Where The Wild Things Are is a little more popular than The Little Monster's Bedtime Book. Believe it or not, I do read books past a 3rd grade reading level (and I'm not just talking about Harry Potter) but the kids books section of my bookshelf happens to be quite visible from where i'm sitting.