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# Category Archives: Dawgs

## Tuesday’s Thoughts on Monday

So now that Monday is over, I’m spending this blog on talking about Monday. It’s going to be mostly sports related. After my Dawgs were eliminated from the Sweet 16, I had to take a breather from sports. But this week makes it damn near impossible for a sports fanatic like me to back away.

Monday brought the National Championship, M’s Opening Day, a talking Tiger, two hours of 24, and solid rebuttal to the Monday Meanderings blog.

2010 NCAA Men’s B-ball National Championship

I’ll admit I didn’t have either Butler nor Duke in the championship game. In fact I had both the Bulldogs and Blue Devils out in the Sweet 16.

Why I Don’t Love Duke

Basically I find any plausible matchup in the early rounds to get Duke out of my bracket. Duke is one of those teams like the Yankees. You either love em or you hate em. I don’t love em. I have my reasons.

I know this has nothing to do with the college game, but can you please tell me what ANY Duke player has really done in the NBA? Shane Battier? Elton Brand? (I kinda like Brand) Christian Laettner? Grant Hill? (I could like the dude if he ever played more than 20 games a season) J.J. Redick? (That just makes me laugh). More importantly in 2001, I was riding Lute Olson’s Arizona Wildcats. It was my freshman year of college and my first big money sports bet. Before U-Dubb Zona was my favorite college basketball team, all the prep ballers from Washington would go there. Long story short, friggin Duke won the game, I was drunk and I kicked in a 25×10 foot window in our dorm community room. So not only did I lose my first big money sports bet, I had to pay for the damn window, and subsequently had to go to group alcohol counseling meetings. The funny thing, maybe not so funny, is that my group consisted of all athletes (yes I was an athlete at UW once) all for ridiculous, though amusing, reasons.

But one thing I can’t hate on Duke about is, Coach Mike Krzyzewski. How that spelling turns phonetically into sha-chef-ski? I have no idea. Not that my last name is easy to pronounce, but you can at least give it an honest try. Pan-da. What, you thought I’d give my real last name?

The actual game provided great story lines. A hometown Cinderella team in Butler (even though Butler was ranked 11th in the polls pre-season, was right around there if not higher at the end of the season and have won a billion straight) up against a storied Duke program.

Butler was lined with 2-star players. One of their best players Gordon Hayward was a ballin prep tennis player, often trading AAU sessions for a racket. Andy Roddick sent him a good luck text after Butler beat Michigan State. Duke had it’s normal high level recruits, soon to flame out in the NBA.

Not to sound racist, this was just an observation. But I don’t know if I had ever seen a basketball game with more white dudes than black dudes on the court. Further one of the black dudes on Butler has the last name of Vanzant. I felt kinda fooled, thinking I was watching a hockey game or tennis match. I was expecting the ghost of Adolph Rupp to do a dance mid-court. If you recall the movie Glory Road, where Don Haskins’ Texas Western (now UTEP) started 5 black players against Rupp’s Kentucky Wildcats (Rupp hated the idea to say the least) and ended up winning the National Championship. Hey, I’m just keeping it real here.

The coaching story line was just as intriguing. Butler’s teenage looking Brad Stevens (actually a young 33) left his marketing associate position at Eli Lilly to take an unpaid position on the Butler staff. Eventually worked his way up, and is now in my eyes, Stevens is as cool as a mojito in humid Central America. Then of course there is Duke’s Coach K. For all that I hate on Duke, all of the lame ass Duke loving analysts, and the more so obnoxious Dookies… I cannot hate on Coach K. Like I said he brings in “college” talent and has them perform. My respect for Coach K grew even more when he masterminded all the egos of NBA players, leading the US Olympic team to a gold in Beijing.

Coaching is of upmost importance in college basketball. All the youth and pressure, the coach must be the thermometer of the team. Throughout this tournament Butler showed incredible poise, all credit goes to cool customer Stevens. The announcers got it right during the game about Butler, “Always about the next guy stepping up for these Butler Bulldogs” no matter injury or foul trouble.

All my bets on the game aside (I hit the points and the under, missed on a parlay with Butler straight up with the M’s and Angels), if that final shot from Hayward fell I would’ve ditched my manhood and cried with joy. Seriously that was a hell of a run Butler, I tip my U-Dubb hat to Bulldogs. And I guess I can say, great year Coach K.

DON’T EXPAND THE TOURNAMENT! The NCAA has their panties in a bind about not having a playoff system for football. Their main argument is that the season would be extended and the students would have to miss more school. (One interesting note, the Butler players who had class the day of the National Championship were shuttled from their hotel to class. Butler IS class.) But seriously you’re telling me that expanding the Tournament would not make any players miss more class? Good looking out for the player’s welfare.

Great, coaches get to keep their jobs because they are one of the fringe teams to get into the expanded tournament. I mean the legitimate teams won’t even play the first few rounds, they’ll just sit around to see who the 14-16 seeds will eventually be. The aura of the first weekend would be stripped. The Tournament is just long enough to keep you engaged the whole way through. By the time your bracket is busted or your team is eliminated, you’ve followed all the story lines and want to keep watching. If the Tournament was any longer it’ll be like watching the seemingly 7 months of NBA playoffs, bo-ring.

The old adage should be followed, “If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it.”

Seattle Mariner’s Opening Day

King Felix Dealing against the Oakland A’s

The M’s opening day. I finally got to see a game on TV. It had been years living in SoCal. Although I was fortunate enough to catch a few games in at Petco Field and at Dodger Stadium. But there is nothing like watching a game to the sweet sounds sliding from Dave Niehaus’ voice. My Oh My!

The game provided great highlights. Chone Figgins squeezing out a walk and stealing two bases at his first at bat and eventually scoring a run. In Chone’s second at bat he hustled on a sacrifice fly for another run. That’s a quality off-season move. Sweet seeing a Rob Johnson homerun, he’s now up to half his HR total of all of last season. Felix Hernandez is living up to his off-season contract and his moniker “King Felix.” King Felix was DEALING, locating firing heat and getting nasty on location with his off-speed pitches. Plus I got to see a double play (one of my favorite plays in all of sports) from this vaunted defense. The victory was a great way to start off the long haul through the Dog Days of Summer. No mater what, it’s going to be a great summer of sub $10 bleacher seats, garlic fries, and beers at Safeco Field. Speaking of off-seasons I am over speculating about the NFL draft. I refuse to talk about the Draft until it’s over. I figure this way I won’t be all riled up when I leave for Mexico the day after the first round. It’s obvious I know nothing about football, at least not like Pete Carroll. Yes, I’m still baffled about signing Charlie Whitehurst. I used to be pretty good at addressing needs for the Hawks. Now any of the holes I thought we had, have only become bigger. The one thing the Hawks have going for them, is that we really won’t know if they screw up the draft with the head-scratching off-season. But catch me in two years when the genius or insanity of this Hollywood front office is qualified. The Masters And of course Tiger is back on the course. I’m not going not going to go over the whole Tiger “Day After Thanksgiving” debacle again… If you want my opinion on it, you can read my old post on the subject. We’re all moving on, as Tiger should do with his family and his game. I did watch the entire interview yesterday. I commend his apology to the other players for being questioned about him. I also hope, like I did in my previous blog, that Tiger will respect the game more. One thing is obvious, I believe this unfortunate situation has made him human. Rick Riley opines that he’ll be missing his Tiger tenacity on the course. I beg to differ. I believe like he said, “everything is stripped away.” Though maybe he could’ve used a better term. Like I’ve said before, I’m a fan of Tiger’s game. (His golf game, although… playin’) I also know that he’s had to shoulder the entire sport of golf. This is no excuse for what he did to his wife and family. But as being a former athlete I can tell you that it makes it that much tougher to focus, especially in a game that requires so much detail. But with genuine answers and a genuine smile when he said “the pressure is gone… I’m having fun again,” I’d be even more nervous playing with him. I’m hoping this will make Tiger a better family man. But I’m pretty sure this will make him a better golfer. For the first time I may actually bet the field against Tiger in the Masters. Winning may not come immediately. But if he’s honest with himself and family and if he is as excited as he appears, the jungle better be warned. A renewed focus and appreciation for the game (which he probably hasn’t had since his father died), well the talent is there… and his mental focus and attitude may only be getting stronger. Can’t wait for Thursday and another one of my favorite sporting events, The Masters. 24 I don’t have too much to say about 24, other than this season is AWESOME! I’m not going to persuade you to watch 24. In fact you really can’t jump in mid-season. It’s like stepping into a political debate without reading the law. But will I encourage you to grab full seasons of 24 on DVD and see what the hype is all about? Definitely. Check out seasons 1-4 and then grab season 8. Look, don’t judge a show until you walked a mile in its moccasins. What? It’s true with 24 though. Jack Bauer, nuff said Thoughts From Hojo And the blog comes full circle. Yesterday I suggested that you give Mondays a break. But my boy Hojo had other thoughts on my leniency. One of the reasons I write this blog is to get my readers (the 4 of you) to hopefully think about something, anything. I’m not writing the blog for you to side with me, in fact I welcome any bashing of my thoughts and opinions… Hojo did just that, but in a legit way. Look if you’re going to make a loud and concrete statement like, “I HATE MONDAYS,” you better come legit like Hojo. Here’s Hojo’s response: Long time listener, first time caller.. ok look; Fuck Monday’s.. From my experience it’s about finding a job that you wake up to and think to yourself, well fuck it’s 7:30 and I’d rather be asleep but I don’t really mind going into work and I have some shit to get done anyway. BTW, if you wake up hating your job regularly you should quit as soon as possible. – this is where my comment would end if I hadn’t had 5 beers while watching the NCAA Championship game & the latest episode of the Pacific.. on the subject of the NCAA Championship game, how many of the Duke+Butler players do you think end up on the Utah Jazz by 2012? Vegas line is four – It’s the select few that wake up on Monday stoked.. I think it’s an even smaller group (or venn diagram if you want to think of it that way) of peeps who wake up and think to themselves “fuck, I love my job – I love my relationship – I love my life.” But maybe that’s what we’re all chasing to some degree, while at the same time making enough coin to meet our personal needs (or acquire the items we’ve been convinced we need). It’s a sad truth that the term “human condition,” has a negative connotation to it and I think it’s due to our ability to understand that life should/could have more meaning than: live, contribute, reproduce, provide, die; but we continue to struggle with this so called “meaning of life,” it’s even become cliche’. It’s important to take a quick second to note that there’s very little correlation between wealth and happiness. Indeed on some level, humans seem to have an innate addiction to “personal progression,” as many of those who have inherited lives of luxury don’t feel like they’ve contributed to the world or even to their sub culture and as a consequence are among the most miserable. Many people equate their life’s pursuit to a feeling of “happiness,” which is really no more than a state of mind and something that people (myself included) are able to pursue more freely on the weekends only to be let down or “brought down to earth” on Monday. Well fuck, I haven’t discovered any type of meaning of life, but I can tell you this much, when it comes to pleasant experiences and enjoying the company of others I find it more easily attainable on day’s that don’t require me to wake up to deliver on obligations at a certain time. I still question though if it’s cerebral thought is more of a curse than a blessing. While our conscious thought has allowed us to move out of the hunter-gather societies of old and advance science on so many levels it’s also allowed us to lose site of the moment. I think I’d be hard pressed to find a group of humans who didn’t agree that their most satisfying experiences have been lived in the moment (very much a Buddhist principle). For this reason I say fuck Monday, because it represents a snap back into the collective subconscious that keeps us all under control.. keeps us aimed at live, contribute, reproduce, provide, die. \end rant Deep Thoughts. Hojo Advertisements ## A Seattle Sports Fan: The Dawgs’ dance continues… in my heart So I’m sluffin on my blog posting. I actually have a blog that I want to post about idiotic doormen at clubs/bars, which is really a comment on idiots in general. But first I MUST type a blog which should’ve been posted on Thursday. I ended up playing poker instead. Then I proceeded to find myself drinking Absinthe on Friday. I sluffed around some more on Saturday only to play more poker that night. My excuse for not writing this blog yesterday is minimal, except that I was actually able to watch college basketball again… That being said, here it goes. I’m starting this blog with these lyrics from MGMT’s Flash Delirium. How does it fit in with this blog? I don’t know but I’m really digging this song, and really I’m just trying to stay composed after this U-Dub loss. Deal with it. … plants, as far as I know are still / still bendin toward the light / and if we dance / until the heart explodes / it’ll make this place ignite / and even if this hall collapses / I can stand by my pillar of hope / it’s just / a case of flash delirium / here’s a growing culture / deep inside a corpse / ages stuck together / takin it to the source / timeless desperation / pictures on a screen scream / “Hey people, what does it mean?” … And it would be logical to post this song for you to listen to while you read along, but I already have in a previous post. Instead I encourage you to listen to the new Black Keys single, “Tighten Up,” (click the link to listen to the song while reading) produced by Danger Mouse. I’ve had a chance to listen to some of the songs off of the new Black Keys album Brothers, it’ll be a good one. That Seattle Sports Guy I’m one of THOSE guys. You know those guys who are a lifelong fan of the home teams. This becomes difficult when your home teams are from Seattle. I don’t want to talk about Super Bowl XL, but my Seahawks were robbed. Yes, I realize we had plenty of opportunities and yes I realize it was years ago. But that’s what happens when you are a Seattle fan who gets a taste of the big prize, and in the end remains a hungry fan. Then there was the 2001 record tying 116 regular season wins of the Mariners, you know when we flubbed like fish out of water in the postseason. Since it’s the Lenten season and I’m Catholic, I gotta say I like the taste of fish, but if I were a fish I’d rather be in water. Don’t get me started on that one team that used to be here. You know that one basketball team, The Seattle SuperSonics. Yea those guys, who now are in Podunk Oklahoma City with one of the best young stars of the game and about to be in the playoffs. Screw you David Stern and fuck you Howard Schultz. I mean I have stock in Starbucks, a local commodity, but whenever I see Starbucks (every 22 seconds in Seattle) I imagine the old yellow and green Sonic uniforms and want to puke a little bit. Purple and Gold in My Veins I’d have to say that the Seahawks are my favorite sports team. But my passion for purple and gold runs even deeper. So deep that if you cut me, the bloodshed would be purple and my tears would be gold (maybe I should collect them and sell them as a side gig). Moms is a U-Dub alum. The colors of the high school, in the town where I was raised, were purple and gold (though the fight song was taken from WSU, jerks). Not to mention I myself am a Husky alum and swam on the now defunct U-Dub swim team. Damn, don’t get me started on that one either. So if you’re trying to get to know me. You’ll need to know the above and that I’m pretty much a sports fanatic. No, I AM a sports fanatic. You wanna get me riled up? Talk sports to me (you can also talk dirty to me, but that’s for another blog). Further you need to understand that I have a lot of gamble in me, and in my degenerate ways I’ll pretty much bet on anything sports related. This includes a bet on how long you can keep a ping-pong ball floating above your head by blowing on it. Or how long I could do it for. It should now be obvious that my love for Seattle sports especially that of the purple and gold variety is slightly obsessive. This brings me to the rest of this inevitable blog. *Sigh* The Dawgs’ Final Dance of 2010 At Least I Got a Dope Shirt The very first thing I noticed was that West Virginia is HUGE. If there’s one thing U-Dub needs to recruit in the off-season is size. And screw you Enes Kanter, I hope you enjoy cheater ass coach John Calipari in Kentucky. Kentucky? Are you serious? They don’t even have cool colors. And it’s in Kentucky. Weak sauce. So the first half was like a Sloppy Joe sandwich, gooeing all over the damn place, from both teams. U-Dub couldn’t get a rebound to save their life. Somewhere between leaving San Jose and arriving in Syracuse, the Huskies forgot to take of the ball while at the same time forgetting how to pass. This brain fart extended to shot selection. Now I’m all about gambling, but really a double crossover while you’re being stuck by a defender and then shoot a three? I still love you Elston Turner, but damn. I’m not going to bash the referees for bad calls. But refs, you made too many bad calls. The thing about U-Dub’s aggressive style is that if the refs don’t let the teams play, the Dawgs become tentative. And that’s pretty much what happened. Quincy Pondexter had 3 fouls by the 4:30 mark, limiting his playing time. All of which were questionable, 2 came on offense. Isaiah Thomas eventually fouled out of the game. Dammit, now I’m just getting upset again. One good thing about the first half, and quite frankly the rest of the game, was U-Dub’s defense. Justin Holiday and crew were all up in the passing lanes. Like I said in my previous blog, teams often overlook the Huskies’ defense and I think WVU was one of those teams. It was a horrendous first half though as both teams were off rhythm. Although U-Dub had a one-point lead at half, I was thoroughly nervous. It seemed as though the Dawgs reverted back to the first half of the season, where it turned into one-on-one ball instead of team ball. Coach Romar praised the Dawgs for coming together at the end of the season, using a “fist” analogy. Essentially a fist is only as strong as all its fingers. Each of the five players represents a finger of the fist. If one of the fingers gets loose, the fist is weak. The fingers were straying, and the panda was worried. Unlike the previous NCAA Tournament games the outside was not falling. Because of the lack of penetration, the outside shots were not open. And when they were open, U-Dub was connecting. Outside shooting is not our game, but it helps to ease that zone. Like I said in the last blog, U-Dub is not an outside shooting team, but it helped previously to loosen up the zone. Seriously the stress level during halftime was not good. I even decided to change my pants (no it wasn’t because of a I peed myself feeling like after the Marquette game) and belt to get some new mojo going. My friend Alyssa came by at half to watch the rest of the game for me. I warned her that I was mildly freaking out and that a bunch of yelling is sure to come. She assured me that it was fine. Little did she know a lot of yelling was about to come (from both of us). Little did I know, that thank goodness she was there to provide a calming effect because I was about to enter a throwing things at the TV, walls and my own face type of mood. The Second Half The second half pretty much started the same as the first half ended, a loose fist. I’d like to give an objective breakdown of the second half, but I really can’t. I don’t know how to make a puke emoticon (and quite frankly after writing this, I’m not the mood to figure it out). Yea it was that bad. But the worst part is that U-Dub’s defense was tremendous. The Dawgs had 14 steals to WVU’s 11 and led 8 to 4 in blocks. WVU had 23 turnovers unfortunately U-Dub had 21. Worse is that the transition offense was there for the Dawgs, but ill-advised passes combined with forgetting how to pass made all the turnovers a wash. The fist became an open hand. An open hand that which U-Dub couldn’t even slap in a shot if they wanted to. The lack of attention to the little things was also becoming evident. Apparently U-Dub forgot to box-out and crash the boards, yet another thing I implored the Dawgs to do. The Huskies were outrebounded a heartless 41 to 25 and an embarrassing 19 to 9 on the offensive glass. 9 for 14 from the line, showed that the Dawgs were not penetrating on offense (no I refuse to go further into the ineptitude of the refs). Seriously Dawgs, where was the focus and heart? This was going to be a tough game; there was no doubt about that. I just wonder if the Huskies themselves believed it. Instead of playing like a fist, they crumbled under the adversity. Something I had been worried about before the Tournament, but after the Marquette game I felt they had under control. Nothing against WVU, but U-Dub beat themselves. With all the WVU turnovers, if U-Dub made half the shots in their transition offense as well as free throws down the stretch it would’ve been a victory for the Dawgs and I’d still be dancin with them. Hats off to the Neers and further good job beating Kentucky in the next round (a little justification for the loss). I’m going to become a WVU fan this week. Two reasons, they beat my Dawgs and secondly there are only two sports teams I can honestly say I despise the Yankees and Duke basketball. Speaking of the Final Four, a huge round of applause to Butler and a bigger cheer to Tom Izzo keeping his Michigan State Spartans together after losing star player Kalin Lucas. The Butler v. Michigan State game will be a doozy. Butler is the hometown team and you can NEVER count out a T-to-the-Izzo team. All I know is that my friends think I have an obsession with Tom Izzo, and called me crazy when I said they were the second best team in the Midwest Region… yup totally crazy. Who wants to check out my wallet on Michigan State bets alone in this tournament? Still Have Love For My Dawgs I said at the beginning of the season that if the Huskies made it to the Sweet 16, I’d be happy. When the brackets came out, I believed that WVU was the best team in the tournament. I plotted out my picks and had U-Dub v. WVU in the Sweet 16. And yes, an objective sports better came out and I had WVU beating UW. Which for all intensive purposes, juiced my wallet, but squeezed my heart in the end. I just wished that the last game of 2010, the Dawgs played well. I wished that Q-Pon’s last game in a Husky uniform wasn’t marred by stupid ass calls. Maybe, just maybe I wouldn’t be so upset with the loss. That being said, I must look at all things in a positive light. The first is that Alyssa came by to watch the game with me and prevented me from an ultimate breakdown (I saved that for the poker table, but thank goodness I composed myself there to come out on top). Like I said making it to the Sweet 16 was awesome, especially after this roller coaster of a season where the Dawgs were not even assured a ticket to the Dance until they won the PAC-10 tournament. Also U-Dub is a young team, 9 freshmen and sophomores. This 2010 ride has given them much needed experience for next year. Elston Turner, Matthew Bryan-Amaning and to an extent Abdul Gaddy grew up. Isaiah Thomas (until the last game) learned that doing the little things other than just scoring would help the team more. Justin Holliday has turned into a defensive machine. Venoy Overton, I was totally going to rip you about your seemingly selfish decisions in the WVU game, next year just channel it into the team game. There are a lot of positives to take from this season, I only hope Coach Romar can ensure that he projects those lessons learned for the 2011 season. Hit the weight room Dawgs (Tyreese Breshers, hit the treadmill). Don’t forget what happened in that last game, don’t dwell on it, but don’t forget this nasty taste in your mouth. We play with chips on our shoulders, let’s come out next season and prove that we are fist to contend with. HELL OF A SEASON DAWGS! And to the University of Washington Huskies Men’s Basketball Teams, we true Dawg fans courteously Bow Down to Washington. Well that blog was a struggle to write… ## The Dawgs Dancin’ Into the Sweet 16 UW-eekend That Was: Pt. 2 Welcome to Part 2 of the Dawgs Dancin’ Into the Sweet 16 UW-eekend That Was blog. Fast Paced Destruction and the Dawgs are Dancin’ in the Sweet 16 Dancin into the Sweet 16 Well staying up until 7 a.m. assured that I’d probably be sleeping until the U-Dub game at 2:50 p.m…. and sure enough. Well I actually got up at noon, but the hours I was awake from noon until the game started pretty much didn’t count for life. But what it did was get me mentally prepared for the ensuing game. Let’s face it, I almost peed in my pants in the game against Marquette, and the only reason I didn’t is because I was doing some crazy version of meditative deep breathing so my heart didn’t fall out of my chest. I wasn’t really sure if I could handle another one of those games, especially with the heartburn from the 12 eggs crammed with chili I had mere hours ago. Thankfully I didn’t have to keep my heart in check. In reality the game (if you could call it that) between the University of Washington and New Mexico could be summed up in two words: DAWG DOMINATION! But I’ll still give a quick recap and opinions on it. Sideline Lovin it, Holiday Hovering The Lobos started pretty much where Marquette left off, draining 3s. That lasted all but five minutes. After that the throttle was down and the Dawgs were run-ning (said in a Forrest Gump tone). What New Mexico, Marquette, hopefully the rest of the teams the Dawgs face, and announcers have failed to realize is that we run. We run well. As evidenced by this statement during the game, “If you like teams that run. Watch Lorenzo Romar’s Huskies.” But the boat they really miss is that it all stems from our sticky defense. Announcers and commentators are quick to dismiss that fact, and you know what I’m happy for it. Yes, Romar recruits athletic offensive weapons but he prides himself on his team’s defense. We’ve been doubted all season. Don’t stop now haters, keep doubting… A trait from someone from Washington is that we collect the chips on our shoulders and turn it into a fortified castle. On to the game. The first half saw Isaiah Thomas again lighting it up from beyond the arc. I’ve been so impressed with IT’s first halves this tournament, mostly because he’s a second half player. He’s not known for his outside shooting, but once he feels it, all bets are off (unless you’re betting on the Huskies, then your bet is on). I was also proud of Abdul Gaddy getting in some good shots early. A lot of people crack on Gaddy for not living up to the hype. One thing I should reinforce is that he was 17 coming in. Gaddy’s ceiling is unlimited if he chooses to adhere to Coach Romar’s tutelage and works for it. I’ve been talking a lot about how the Huskies haven’t reached their potential yet. It would be hard for people to believe that with their run the past month and a half. But seeing how Gaddy is their starting point guard and I know he’s yet to hit his frosh peak, there is still more this club can achieve. I don’t know what else to say about Elston Turner, other than, he is my DUDE. The way this guy has grown up in the past three games is perfect timing. Defenses love to play zone against the Huskies, daring them to shoot the three. While I’m tentative to give IT the green light, the green light is solidly on for Turner. His clutch outside shooting is making teams rethink their zone. Elston Turner Says, "Deez!" And as soon as that zone breaks down the penetration from Quincy Pondexter, IT, and Venoy Overton (still makes me nervous when he drives) becomes overwhelming. Not to mention the middle presence Matthew Bryan-Amaning is displaying these days. The first half of the New Mexico game was the first half that us die-hard Husky fans knew they were capable of. Another Day for Q-Pon MBA Monster Dunkin The sick D was on display with monster blocks (which even Justin Holiday got in the action of), thieving steals, and guarding the 3. The Dawgs made their open shots and did not forget about driving to the hoop and posting up in the paint. Are there still any doubters left? I believe so… but like I said, you’d be ill advised to think so. Holiday Says, "Welcome to the Block Party." All I have to say about the second half is that the Dawgs displayed a killer instinct they were lacking in the PAC-10 championship game. The game against Marquette the Dawgs showed heart. The game against New Mexico, the Dawgs showed that even lovers have a killer instinct. Instead of relaxing (though they did slightly at the beginning of the first half), they smelled blood and went in for the kill. These tournament games are justifying the pre-season polls having U-Dub in the top 15. Also justifying that although the PAC-10 was down, the top team is not to be taken lightly. Postgame commentary, “The Huskies are repping the PAC-10.” The Dawgs are winners of 9 straight and on a serious tear right now. I’m not going to be a complete Husky Homer, but 4 more wins would have this guy in tears. Seriously. There was only one thing I really wanted to see in the New Mexico game. This may come off as a bit racist, but it’s plain truth. U-Dub has one white guy on their bench, Brendan Sherrer. Not to take anything away from Sherrer, but when he’s on the floor the game is on lock. The game was on lock pretty much after the first ten minutes of the game, meaning a Sherrer appearance at the end of the game. He had a great look at the hoop and was fouled… Icing on the cake would’ve been for Sherrer to hit one of his free throws. Sadly, that was not the case, and my perfect game was spoiled. Sunday it was realized that U-Dub would play a very formidable West Virginia University Mountaineer team. In my opinion WVU is the best team remaining in the tournament. I’m not going to make any bold predictions, but should the Huskies do what I stated in the previous paragraph, be on notice Elite 8; the Dawgs are going to seriously be dancing. Some things that must be addressed going into the WVU game. The outside shoots may or may not be there, the truth is that the outside shooting hasn’t been great all season. But the fact remains that Turner and Scott Suggs are designated assassins. If they get open looks and do their jobs, throats will be slashed. The Dawgs MUST keep penetrating on offense and posting up, if anything that will allow the outside shooters to get open looks. So when WVU’s vaunted D and zone comes hopefully it’s there, but the perimeter guys must work to find the openings. WVU is no joke. All my talk of U-Dub’s sticky D is easily challenged by WVU’s stymie defense. It will be a battle of the defenses, the Dawgs MUST keep up their D. The Dawgs MUST nab boards on both sides of the floor. Too many times against New Mexico the Lobos had easy access to the rebound. Too many times the closest Dawg to the ball was just standing there. Look if you’re not gonna snag the board, at least box out. I hate to see anyone get injured in sports, even if it’s an opponent. But one thing that is going to help U-Dub is that WVU’s starting point guard Tuck Bryant is out for the rest of the season with a broken foot he sustained in practice. With the way the Dawgs play D, it’s essential for the opponent to have a solid ball handler, which Bryant is. The backup Joe Mazzula is solid in his own right, and I’m sure Coach Huggins will have him dialed in by the game tomorrow. But Mazzula doesn’t have the offensive game that Bryant has. Devin Ebanks and Butler will remain beastly, but the point guard play of WVU will be something worth noting. And this is the last and most important thing for the Dawgs. Keep your heart. West Virginia is no joke. It would be easy to keep your swagga on blast after the New Mexico game, but there’s a reason 80% of this country (myself included) and WVU themselves believed they should have had a number one seed. There is undoubtedly going to be times during the game where the Mountaineers will be up and possibly up big or if the outside shot is not raining like it has been… But Dawgs remember you were 15 down with 13:30 left against Marquette. Marquette is no West Virginia, but they are a scrappy team. Show heart Dawgs. On the same token, if you find yourselves up, go for the kill like you did against New Mexico… I’m just saying if De’Sean Butler has an opportunity for a buzzer beater, he’s probably going to make it. Back To College This weekend was apparently filled with too many instances of college life. My friend was having a birthday party at her house (the same house I found myself at on St. Patrick’s Day) in a place that we can only describe as a mythical oasis. I swear Parkland exists only if you want it to, you travel on a highway heading East, but the name says 512 West. I also told my friend, the only way that I was going to go to this party was that if U-Dub won. U-Dub Dawgy styled the Lobos, so… Sky, the hommie Jr, and I found ourselves heading to a birthday party… a birthday party with a bunch of college kids. So what do you do as an experienced college party vet, you bring a bottle of Crown Royal with every intention to down it so you either feel like a college kid or if a college kid tries to puke on you, you can puke back even stronger. I’m not going to get too far into detail about the party, it was a typical college party though. And I found myself actually enjoying it (apparently I haven’t grown up yet). I mean there was food, generally nice kids, music… and I finished the bottle of Crown in 45 minutes. You know time was a blur at this point. Between encouraging these kids to partake in a few U-Dub chants (this was not a U-Dub college party), making fun of some “serious” dialogs, learning and subsequently forgetting people’s names, and laughing with Jr. at the randomness around us… the old age kicked in and it was time to bust out. Probably at the right time for the Panda, as I probably said, “I’m gonna puke” about 40 times (but being the pro that I am never did). And yes, this time a stop at Jack in the Box was in order. Lazy Ass Sunday As if I had not ruined my insides enough this weekend. After being an absolute sloth on the couch and watching yet another round of NCAA tournament games, the hommies and I had the brilliant idea to order Chinese food. Actually it was brilliant at the time, because apparently I was on a schedule of eating once a day during the weekend and 12 eggs, a Jack in the Box run, and a solid breakfast at Endoylne Joe’s I was hungry. When the food finally arrived, it came in a large cardboard box. Damn… and that’s pretty much how this college infused weekend went. And the consequences of it, I got a lot of reading done in the bathroom on Monday. And there you have it… The Dawgs Dancin’ Into the Sweet 16 UW-eekend That Was. ## The UW Huskies Dance Begins: 1.7 Seconds of Serious Stress I’m still trying to get my stuff together and figuring out what the next step is career wise. And I’m still feeling like a bum without a job. But I’m finding some good things being an unemployed licensed attorney. One of which is this blog and getting back into a writing groove. I’m hoping this will lead to inspiration and motivation to get back to my book. Yes, the one I’ve been talking about writing for a year now. But there are other pockets of goodness being a bum… Such as St. Patrick’s Day and not missing the opening day of the NCAA Basketball Tournament. So today (which I suppose is now yesterday) I found myself feeling the effects of St. Patrick’s Day. It was actually the first St. Paddy’s Day that I’ve celebrated proper in a while. And proper it was. Started off with some friends at a local watering hole called The Clover Leaf. The Clover Leaf definitely has a unique set up. It’s a restaurant/slash bar. It was bizarre standing next to a bunch of drunks in the bathroom while kids waited behind us. But the green beers were flowing like, like green beers. Dude Playing the Bagpipes at The Clover Leaf After handling a few pitchers, I found myself at a friend’s house in Parkland. Beer pong and beers continued to flow, with a few shots. Speaking of shots, don’t ever take a shot of Canadian Club whiskey after downing beers all night. It’s bad news bears. But I do appreciate the wonderful ladies who hosted my drunk Panda ass. I woke up too early, jammed back home (took a needed nap), and got ready for my FAVORITE sporting day of the year: the first day of March Madness. First Day of March Madness 2010 Before I delve into my sports talk here’s my bracket. Feel free to mock it. It has become apparent to me after the first day that I will not be winning any of those big cash awards for my bracket. Dammit, I’m gonna have to find another way to pay off my law school loan. My Final Four: Kansas, West Virginia, Syracuse, and Baylor. And yes my South region is just ballsy. That region is so damn weak. I also have U-Dub losing to West Virginia in the Sweet 16, but I will definitely allow my bracket to be busted if the Dawgs can keep their roll. Oh and here’s President Obama’s bracket. Apparently he got done up by the Big East’s follies today. And Mr. President, why did you have to go against my Dawgs? Bad move yo. Today I realized why this is my favorite sports day. There were so many good games. Overtimes, buzzer beaters, and plenty of upsets (lower seeds beating higher seeds)… seven if I’m not mistaken. It started off early with number two Villanova getting a healthy scare from number fifteen Robert Morris. The game ending in overtime. Speaking of overtime. It took two overtimes to settle the BYU/Florida game. For my bracket sake, thank goodness BYU pulled it off. It took an extra period for the Wake Forrest/Texas game. Another game I got wrong. There was also a shocker from Georgetown who was handled by Ohio. Really Hoyas? The Bobcats? Knock two more wins off from bracket. Then there were all the close games and buzzer beaters. Notre Dame lost by one to Old Dominion. Number thirteen Murray State broke down number four Vanderbilt with a one point victory. Apparently being a number four seed is just bad news for Vanderbilt, second time in as many tries as a four seed they lost in the first round. And Jack, I’m gonna have to do it. Northern Iowa pulled out a victory over UNLV with a game winning three. Then there was my University of Washington Huskies over the Marquette Golden Eagles… Dawgs Continue Their 2010 Dance Finally at 5 o’clock the Dawgs’ dance began. I didn’t know much about Marquette heading into the game, other than their vaunted guards and refusal to quit. It became evident right away that Marquette was also undersized. This game had to be one of the best of an awesome day. A back and forth battle. The first half was an all out shooting clinic. The ball was super wet as threes rained down from both teams. Apparently that is Marquette’s deal. Not so much for U-Dub. Yes we have designated outside assassins in Turner and Suggs. But Isaiah Thomas joined in the three party as well. The problem with all of that is that, U-Dub doesn’t live by threes. We’re a slashing and fast break team on offense. I knew that it was fool’s gold and did not see enough of an inside presence. Though we were only down by one at half, I was damn nervous that we were getting away from our offensive game. The biggest player Marquette had is 6’6”, U-Dub really needed to establish an inside game. But did not in the first half. But one thing for sure is that our sticky D was on blast. Although our perimeter D was non-existent. Another thing that was bugging me was Quincy Pondexter’s lack of scoring, thankfully IT was clutch in the first half (IT is usually a second half player). What bugged me further is that it took nearly a half for the damn announcers to pronounce Pondexter’s name right. They kept calling him “Poin”dexter. Fools, do you see an “i” anywhere on his jersey? I know Q-Pon is a senior and one of the best players in the nation this year, but his lack of presence on offense was a bit discouraging. In the second half, it became evident that the hot outside shooting from U-Dub was fool’s gold. Marquette’s hot shooting continued. Seriously those dudes could not miss an open three. Meanwhile the Dawgs couldn’t hit the blind side of the barn. With thirteen and half minutes left to go, the Dawgs were facing a fifteen point deficient. The Panda was officially in panic mode. I know that U-Dub is a second half team, but man, fifteen points was a mountain. Were the Dawgs willing to climb it? I certainly convinced myself they were. The announcers all but wrote off the Dawgs at that point. But being a true fan and knowing how they battled against Cal, I knew we had it in us. If only somehow Marquette would miss a damn shot. Down fifteen, I was telling my friends that if we can cut it to six at the ten-minute mark we will be sitting good. Almost on queue U-Dub made a run. With five minutes left, the comeback was looking like a reality (Marquette didn’t score a field goal the final 4:33 of the game). U-Dub made two outstanding defensive stops late in the game. The game was tied at 78 and U-Dub after a terrible possession ended up with the ball with about 30 seconds left. The ball was in the hands of none other than Quincy Pondexter who showed life in the second half. Everyone knew this final shot was his. With 10 seconds left Q-Pon shook from side to side and blew past an off-balanced Jimmy Butler… making an athletic lay-up that seemingly did not want to go down. But there was 1.7 seconds left on the clock… Q-Pon's Eventual Game Winning Layup This game was a test of heart. A test of my heart as a diehard fan and a test of U-Dub’s heart… At this point, my heart was basically beating out of my chest and I was sweating like a Dawg. Bud-um-chhhh… Seriously the comeback in itself was intense enough, Q-Pon’s bucket had me screaming like a school girl. But there was 1.7 seconds left… 1.7 seconds… 1.7 Seconds of Serious Stress 1.7 seconds. 1.7 seconds. After a chess game of timeouts Marquette was ready to inbound the ball. Like I said, Marquette was not missing anything for about 35 minutes of the game. However, they had not made a bucket in 4:31 seconds. This was almost the worst situation ever, the way that Marquette was draining threes earlier, 1.7 seconds was an eternity. With all the crazy game winning shots, and it being March Madness, anything could happen. Being a Seattle sports fan, I’ve seen it happen too many times. But it turns out there was a gaming winning shot… Finally Marquette inbounded the ball. No way U-Dub was gonna foul, it was just up to the basketball gods at that point… Thankfully Marquette’s Lazar Hayward missed the desperation three. Q-Pon’s senior leadership, grind it out attitude, and incredible (almost) last second drive won the game. Big props go out to MBA for waking up in the second half and once again Elston Turner for his clutch shots and threes, scoring eleven of his fourteen points in the second half. But the sole senior, Q-Pon, carried his team like he should (he was even positioned to get the rebound had he missed the shot). Q-Pon in Victory for the Dawgs and The Golden Eagles Bowing Down (literally) U-Dub is riding an eight game winning streak. Seemingly peaking at the right moment. Though I believe we still haven’t quite hit our season potential. It’s apparent though, and something I’ve been looking for all season, that the Dawgs have heart. After battling tough against Cal in the PAC-10 tournament final and coming back from fifteen down against Marquette… The Dawgs have heart. And mine, now almost a day later has finally returned to a healthy beat. Seriously, I had to go for a walk outside just to breathe again. The Dawgs are going to have to put their heart on the line once again against New Mexico. Not saying that it gets easier as the Tournament progresses, but I believe that the Dawgs match up better against the Lobos than the Golden Eagles. I was thoroughly underwhelmed with New Mexico’s play against Montana, a game where New Mexico was up 12 points and the Grizzlies clawed back, almost winning the game. I now believe that mentally the Dawgs are ready to ball. Their athleticism is some of the best in the remaining field. That deadly combo and now with some scrappy victories in the book, has us primed to continue our dance. Tomorrow come 2:50 p.m., let’s hope we can solve some of our deficiencies and play our game. Though I’m not sure how much more my heart can take. What an epic victory by the Dawgs and I’m so proud of their determination. Bleed Purple and Gold Dawgs. BOW DOWN LOBOS!!! March is full of madness. Seattle Seahawks? You Have Me So Confused Let me preface the following. Aside from the purple and gold that runs in my veins, the Seattle Seahawks are my favorite sports team. I’ve been diehard since 1982. Though the crappy years, the Super Bowl in which we robbed, and now in the most bizarre offseason. The Hawks went through a complete regime change bringing in Hollywood Pete Carroll from USC as the head coach. I questioned it from the get go. But the fact is, he is now the coach of my favorite team. It is obvious that the Hawks are in a rebuilding phase (which really should’ve started two seasons ago). However, this off-season has me perplexed on the direction we are headed. We lost wide-receiver Nate Burleson to free agency. Dropped our starting safety Deon Grant. Signed our defensive end Darryl Tapp to a one-year deal, only to trade him the very next day. We traded our back-up quarterback Seneca Wallace to the Browns for an undisclosed pick in 2011. I get it, we’re rebuilding and I hope that by dropping we are some how adding. But with all Tapp and Grant still on the team, we were hurting at defensive end and safety. Now we absolutely need both positions. This is not even mentioning our glaring needs on the offensive line and defensive tackle positions. With our starting quarterback Matt Hasselbeck’s recent injuries it made no sense to trade Wallace. I was hoping we’d take a stab at the once Pro Bowl free agent quarter back Derek Anderson. But our pesky division rivals, the Arizona Cardinals, signed him. Then the confusion became even worse with the news I heard driving back home from Parkland. I was hoping I was still drunk when I heard on the radio that we traded down 40 picks and gave up a third rounder for Charlie Whitehurst of the San Diego Chargers. We signed Whitehurst to a two-year$8 million contract. Charlie fucking Whitehurst? This dude has seen nearly zero playing time since he was drafted five years ago. Here are his stats: zero completions and 13 rushing yards. What the hell? Meanwhile Derek Anderson was signed by the Cardinals for \$7 million and they didn’t lose any picks. For a team that’s rebuilding, wouldn’t you think you’d covet those picks? I suppose that means we’re not going to draft Sam Bradford, Jimmy Clausen, or god-forbid Tim Tebow (a funny pun if you knew how much Tebow reps his Christianity, nothing against it, but a good pun).

This Whitehurst move seriously has my scratching my head. It’s obvious that Carroll and his staff sees something in Whitehurst and believes he’ll be our future quarterback. What the hell they’re basing that on? I have no idea. Of course this makes me remember when Holmgren brought in a no-named balding Hasselbeck, and everyone in the town was thinking. What the fuck? As it turned out, Hasselbeck is the greatest quarterback the Seahawks has ever had. But one difference, Holmgren got Hasselbeck from the Packers, Holmgren’s former team. Holmgren saw promise in Hasselbeck while at Green Bay, there was a connection. I’m still trying to see the connection with Whitehurst.

Mike Sando of ESPN did write a pretty enlightening blog about this though that essentially said that we got Whitehurst for far less than we got Hasselbeck for when we brought him in. Will Whitehurst be the next and hopefully better franchise quarterback than Hasselbeck? Only time will tell. If I didn’t use up all my prayers for the day on that U-Dub victory, I’d channel them into the fact that he will.

I understand we’re rebuilding, but I’m a believer that the NFL is one of those leagues where you can rebuild while still staying competitive. I don’t get what the Seahawks are doing right now. This whole regime shift is making my head spin. I suppose that’s why they get paid for it, while I’m left with just opinions.  I’m also hoping that what they are doing actually makes sense to them. We’ll have a better idea once the draft happens. I just hope before then some of these issues get resolved, we can’t draft an entire team. And I’ve officially thrown out any predictions on who we will draft. The draft actually starts the day before I leave for Puerto Vallarta, I hope to be celebrating with margaritas over the draft when I get there. One thing I have riding on the draft is that i was in PV last year when we drafted Aaron Curry, who I believe will end up being the best player from the 2009 draft. Godspeed Seahawks.

## Dancin’ Dawgs Video… Wow

Okay. I bleed purple and gold… and love my Dawgs. I’m just not really sure what to say about this. My initial reaction was, “Wow.” But hey the Dawgs are dancin in the 2010 NCAA Tournament, do your thing Dawgs… stick to your tenacious D, sharp shooting, penetration, and aggressiveness. Leave the real dancing to your fans. Unless you win the tournament, then by all means, dance Dawgs, dance…

I’m sure by now everyone should know that it’s time for more daylight and your clocks should be set one hour ahead.  If not, that’s okay.  And if that’s the case, then I envy you that you’re in a position that you don’t really have to worry about time.

I was actually going to write one massive blog… but know that most of the people who read this have a pretty short attention span.  So I’ve decided to make three separate blogs.  I could’ve gone all three in one; you know in this economy everyone wants value for their buck.  But you also know in this generation we can only read so much.  So the order is a little out of whack with the blogs… but enjoy nonetheless.

Where the New Year has Warn Off and Spring is Almost Here

So I’m trying to justify quitting the firm last week.  And it’s still not feeling all that great seeing how I don’t have a legit job right now.  I’m not going to get too deep into it, as most of you know my feelings of being an attorney.  Basically you need to have a strong will for law during those long stressful hours.  Am I weak willed? That’s not up to me to judge.  Do I have a passion for law?  Also yet to be determined, but I don’t have a passion for corporate law.  I know that.  Yes the money was outrageously good.  And yes if I could’ve somehow got over the fact that I wanted to drive off of the Tacoma Narrows Bridge twice a day, I could’ve “inherited” the practice in two years.  So that sick feeling I have?  Comes from closing that door, maybe a bit too soon.

But I had an interesting dialog with my friend Aubrey about passions last night.  She gave me undeserving credit (“mad respect” in her words) for realizing that I wasn’t passionate and leaving a position that many would probably die for.  That passion for dying for your job, is something I’m searching for.  My buddy Sky also told me that maybe 1% of the people enjoy their job.  An over-exaggeration, but well noted and understood.  Basically I’m a lame ass, because I don’t have any direction and my sanity couldn’t handle corporate law.

That being said, Saturday into Sunday was a great weekend.

To give some foreshadowing (if you read this blog first) the two blogs below are about the Huskies dancin into the NCAA tournament and Manny Pacquiao’s romp over Josh Clottey.

I’ll also have to say that I had a decent night at the poker table.  Tripling up what I sat down with.  I’m not going to say how much I won for two reasons: 1) Because if Schaefer or any of my poker pro friends happen to read this they’d laugh at the couch change I made last night. 2) Some of you might have the idea that I should play poker more as per hour I made more money than being an attorney (which was actually more than I probably should’ve been getting paid).  Though it does make me pause and think… If I made more money off of the first half and overall win for the Dawgs, Pacquiao beating Clottey, and playing poker all in one day than I did being an attorney… never mind… Another round of resumes and cover letters here I come…

By the way if you did in fact read this blog before the previous two here’s something to keep you entertained.  It’s made by some of the players from U-Dub’s b-ball team.  It gets me every time. Q-Walk now…

And some additional listening from B.F.A.M.  This one is just great…

## Dawgs Be Dancin’

WHOSE HOUSE?!? DAWGS HOUSE!!!

Saturday (when the game finally came on) started with a flurry. My alma mater, University of Washington, faced Cal.  It was by far one of the best games I had watched beginning to end all season.  Both made a strong case for being in the NCAA Tournament.  I believe my Dawgs justified their dancing shoes on national TV.

If you saw on my Twitter and facebook pages the Dawgs secured their Big Dance fate by playing tenacious D and making clutch shots at the end of the game.  There was a point when they were up ten points and subsequently went on a scoring drought that of course had me sweating.  Winning 12 of the past 14 and rolling through the PAC-10 tournament, U-Dub definitely has some “more-mentum” building heading into the Tourney.

2010 PAC-10 Tournament Champions: U-Dub Huskies

The past three games in a nutshell:

The Dawgs ate Beavers.  The Dawgs peed on Cardinal trees.  The Dawgs mauled some Golden Bears.

MBA “dunk bagging” Andrew Zimmerman of Stanford during U-Dub’s smoking of the Cardinal trees in the 2010 PAC-10 Tournament semifinal game.

Elston Turner became a man.  MBA (Matthew Bryan-Amaning) is playing like the man they said he would be.  IT (Isaiah Thomas, or “Zeke” as Marquis Johnson likes to call him) is doing the tangibles instead of just scoring.  By the way I found out Marquis Johnson calls IT Zeke, because that was the OG Isaiah Thomas’ nickname.  Why that’s his nickname?  I have yet to verify, some theories is that is actually part of his name. OVER-ton (Venoy or Pinoy Overton as Kento has now named him) is solidifying his sticky D and clutch free throws.  Justin Holiday channeling his inner Bobby Jones, playing nasty D and skying for boards.  And Q-Pon (Quincy Pondexter), well he is just the senior Dawg Father of this team.

The Dawg Father Quincy Pondexter

The only thing I wish the Huskies could’ve shown yesterday was a killer instinct when they had that ten point lead.  Come March Madness, anything can happen, and if you smell victory you MUST go in for the kill.

P.O.Y. Really Jerome Randle?

The official 2010 NCAA Tournament brackets came out today. Here are a few of my thoughts on the Dawgs.

I believe that the NCAA Tournament Selection Committee was relieved to see U-Dub beat Cal in the final game.  After EVERYONE and myself said that the PAC-10 was abysmal this year, I could imagine that it was going to be tough for the Committee to take two teams from the PAC-10.  Even though both Cal and U-Dub have made significant statements.  Let’s just put it this way for all the teams on the bubble, you put them head-to-head with either Cal or U-Dub; it’s a no brainer.  But knowing that a member of the Committee is Dan Guerrero, UCLA’s AD, I know subjectively he wanted more than one PAC-10 team in.  Looking at U-Dub’s seed (discussed below), you can tell that they were indeed on the Bracket Bubble.

A little off-topic, I had an interesting conversation with peeps at the poker table last night regarding adding teams to the PAC-10.  A suggestion was made that we should bring in BYU and Utah.  No doubt they have great athletics and seems to fit the theme of interstate rivals the PAC-10 maintains… but that discussion is for another day.

Like I said the Dawgs have some momentum coming into the Dance… stepping up showing that they can win on the road and in a neutral environment.  It’s a whole different scene come tourney time though.  But I think a crowd won’t faze the Dawgs.  Rather if there are any mental lapses it’s all in U-Dub’s own minds, not what a crowd will do to them (see losses at home to Oregon and USC, brain farts).  At times I think U-Dub carries an excessive swagger, but if Washington can focus it, that will help the Dawgs brush their shoulders off to any crowd getting on them.

Things I’m looking forward to Washington doing: Keeping a sticky full-court press D from the beginning til the end of the game.  Making open shots.  Coach Lorenzo Romar’s ability to reach into our deep bench and make solid changes with the matchups at hand.  Turner and MBA’s continued growth and aggressive play, like they did coming down the stretch.  Turner and Scott Suggs becoming those outside assassins we need.  Abdul Gaddy stepping up and turning all those opportunities into points. IT keeping his hand healthy. Q-Pon leading his team in whatever way is necessary (including verbally) as the lone senior.

U-Dub is seeded 11th in the hodge-podge East region.  They first face Big East Marquette, equipped with solid guards and battle tested schedule.  I still don’t believe U-Dub has hit their season potential yet, especially with their guards, so it will be tough matchup.  MBA (as well as the supporting “big man” cast of Tyreese Breshers and Darnel Gant) needs to stay aggressive on both ends, especially in the paint as the zone is coming.  Suggs and Turner need to get and make some open looks as our guards drive the paint.  Q-Pon, just do your thing son.  The Dawgs are predicated on sticky D, fast-break points, and driving the lane… Don’t stop that now fellas.

Dawgs Dancin’ after being officially selected

Not to get too far ahead but… If U-Dub can win the first battle against the Golden Eagles they will most likely face a legit New Mexico team that no one (including myself) knows much about.  If another storm is weathered another Big East matchup looms against the West Virginia Mountaineers.  I bleed purple and gold, but a Sweet 16 trip would be awesome in my ambitious desires.  In my initial bracket I actually have WVU coming out of the East region.  Of course if we get that far you know I’m throwing logic out the window and will be upset if we lose.  Actually I’ll be upset if we lose at all.  The Dawgs’ athleticism and gained mental toughness over the past month would have me scared to play them.  They will definitely be one of those sneaky mid-seeded teams that everyone has probably already counted out.

Being mildly objective, I’ve found a few facts about the 11 seeds in the tournament from brief research:

No team seeded higher than 11th has ever reached the Final Four. George Mason in 2006 and LSU in 1986 are the only teams to advance that far as eleven seeds. Interestingly, that makes the eleven spot more successful than the ten, nine or seven seeds.

Number 6 seeds have dominated number 11 seeds by a margin of 61-27.

But this isn’t a legal case here… facts get tossed in the Big Dance. There’s a reason it’s called March Madness after all.  Let’s face it if I ran off of facts, I’d quit being a sports fan long ago (especially a Seattle sports fan).

Initial Overall Bracket Thoughts

This year’s tournament is going to be fun as hell to watch.  I’ve mentioned this in conversations earlier, but more so now; it’s not going to be a chalk year.  Of course I didn’t think it would be chalk last year either.  I believe ten teams have a legit shot at the title this year, there isn’t one dominant team.  Although, I think Kansas’ starting lineup is close.

Speaking of Kansas.  They are the overall number one seed, so the committee said… Then I look at their Midwest bracket. In it are: Michigan State, Ohio State, and Georgetown… all of whom could be a potential Final Four team.  So much for being the overall number one.  Syracuse and Duke seem to have smoother roads as number ones… I think the South region is the softest.  Kentucky and John Wall have a smooth path also, but as stated above, I see WVU coming out of that bracket.

Everything I’ve just said could easily change in the next few days as I do more research (I now have time for this).  I’m not going to post my Final Four and bracket predictions until I finalize them on Wednesday and my sports bets get locked in…


text:
The Stacks Project

Tag: 04BF

This tag has label sites-modules-definition-g-shriek and it points to

The corresponding content:

Definition 17.16.1. With $u : \mathcal{C} \to \mathcal{D}$ satisfying (a), (b) above. For $\mathcal{F} \in \textit{PAb}(\mathcal{C})$ we define {\it $g_{p!}\mathcal{F}$} as the presheaf $$V \longmapsto \mathop{\rm colim}\nolimits_{V \to u(U)} \mathcal{F}(U)$$ with colimits over $(\mathcal{I}_V^u)^{opp}$ taken in $\textit{Ab}$. For $\mathcal{F} \in \textit{PAb}(\mathcal{C})$ we set {\it $g_!\mathcal{F} = (g_{p!}\mathcal{F})^\#$}.

\begin{definition}
\label{definition-g-shriek}
With $u : \mathcal{C} \to \mathcal{D}$ satisfying (a), (b) above.
For $\mathcal{F} \in \textit{PAb}(\mathcal{C})$ we define
{\it $g_{p!}\mathcal{F}$} as the presheaf
$$V \longmapsto \colim_{V \to u(U)} \mathcal{F}(U)$$
with colimits over $(\mathcal{I}_V^u)^{opp}$ taken in $\textit{Ab}$. For
$\mathcal{F} \in \textit{PAb}(\mathcal{C})$ we set
{\it $g_!\mathcal{F} = (g_{p!}\mathcal{F})^\#$}.
\end{definition}

To cite this tag (see How to reference tags), use:

\cite[\href{http://stacks.math.columbia.edu/tag/04BF}{Tag 04BF}]{stacks-project}

In your comment you can use Markdown and LaTeX style mathematics (enclose it like $\pi$). A preview option is available if you wish to see how it works out (just click on the eye in the lower-right corner).

format: plain


text:
in reply to New berrybrew installer; Looking for testers

Thanks for doing this. Here are my observations of the process.

Windows 10 Pro, version 1903, OS Build 18362.476

Note: I have an existing berrybrew installation, and this seems not to be expected by the installer.

========

Symantex Download Insight ate the file. After extraction from quarantine it ran.

I saw one cmd window flash past.

The second window ran the strawberry perl download. (This takes a little while, so a download progress indicator or spinner would be nice).

Once that completed a few more cmd windows flashed past.

On opening a clean cmd window I ran echo %PATH%. The strawberry perl instance is in the path at the front, but the newly installed berrybrew is not.

berrybrew version
1.22

"c:\Program Files (x86)\berrybrew\bin\berrybrew.exe" version
1.27
[download]

So it seems to have done everything except put berrybrew itself in the path. Note that I have not tried rebooting to see if it gets picked up that way.

On uninstall it removes the c:\program files(x86)\berrybrew folder. The strawberry perl it installed is still there. It has, however, removed my pre-existing berrybrew from the path.

Replies are listed 'Best First'.
Re^2: New berrybrew installer; Looking for testers
by stevieb (Canon) on Nov 23, 2019 at 00:07 UTC

Thank you for this.

A side effect I didn't consider is that internally, I call berrybrew unconfig but not using the full path, so it likely used the existing 1.22 berrybrew, which would have blown away the original PATH. Probably that's the reason the new path wasn't added as well.

Was there any indication as to why the malware software caught it? I don't use Windows except for developing berrybrew and testing things for a few Windows-based clients I have.

If your 1.22 version was using C:\berrybrew as its Perl instance directory, re-adding that version to PATH should fix things right up. If you want to carry on with the new version, it will happily use your old instances, or the new 5.30.0 instance you installed as part of the test (using berrybrew switch \$version). The new 1.27 is backwards compatible with 1.22. It just has many new features and error checking.

I'm still working out kinks. This is my first time creating a Windows installer :)

The AV issues are mostly time related. Once a few users have reported the exe it should be sorted.

Some key details from the log:

There is not enough information about this file to recommend it.
This file has been seen by no Symantec users.
[download]

I re-added the older berrybrew to the path and it worked again so that part is corrected.

I then ran berrybrew upgrade, and now I get this error. I had to revert the changes to the perls.json file in the git repo for it to work (this is not new). I don't imagine this is due to the installer, and is more likely something else in the development process, or how I have things set up.

berrybrew version

Unhandled Exception: System.ArgumentException: Item has already been a
+dded. Key in dictionary: '5.26.2_64_PDL'  Key being added: '5.26.2_64
+_PDL'
at System.Collections.Hashtable.Insert(Object key, Object nvalue, B
+ Object value)
at BerryBrew.Berrybrew.PerlGenerateObjects(Boolean importIntoObject
+)
at berrybrew.Bbconsole.Main(String[] args)
[download]

UPDATE:

I ran a git pull on the repo and the issue has now gone away. The issue was perhaps something to do with berrybrew upgrade and git.

That's all great information. Thank you.

I do know about some issues regarding upgrading, and that's next on my roadmap to clean up.

Since there are some issues with older versions and 'unconfig', in the installer, I'm just going to check if there's a berrybrew installed, warn the user on what to do so they can proceed. I'm not going to make changes to the system; I'm going to let the user do that if necessary. Better safe than sorry.

Re^2: New berrybrew installer; Looking for testers
by stevieb (Canon) on Nov 23, 2019 at 00:20 UTC

I installed berrybrew 1.22 on a vanilla win10 VM, installed and switched to Perl 5.10.1_32, then ran the new installer.

I have made some changes to the installer after the OP (you can get it here.

Here's the result of those actions:

C:\Program Files\Mono>echo %path%

C:\Program Files\Mono\bin\;C:\berrybrew\5.30.0_64\c\bin;C:\berrybrew\5
+.30.0_64\perl\bin;C:\berrybrew\5.30.0_64\perl\site\bin;C:\Windows\sys
+tem32;C:\Windows;C:\Windows\System32\Wbem;C:\Windows\System32\Windows
[download]


text:
## On a mixed Littlewood conjecture for quadratic numbers.(English)Zbl 1165.11325

From the introduction: In a joint paper, with O. Teulié [Monatsh. Math. 143, No. 3, 229–245 (2004; Zbl 1162.11361)], we have considered the following problem. Let $${\mathcal B}= (b_k)_{k\geq1}$$ be a sequence of integers greater than 1. Consider the sequence $$(r_n)_{n\geq0}$$, where $$r_0=1$$ and $$r_n= \prod_{0<k\leq n}b_k$$ for $$n>0$$. For $$q\in\mathbb Z$$, set $$w_{\mathcal B}(q)= \sup\{n\in\mathbb N$$; $$q\in r_n\mathbb Z\}$$ and $$|q|_{\mathcal B}= \inf\{1/r_n$$; $$q\in r_n\mathbb Z\}$$.
Note that $$|.|_{\mathcal B}$$ is not necessarily an absolute value, but when $${\mathcal B}$$ is the constant sequence $$p$$, where $$p$$ is a prime number, then $$|.|_{\mathcal B}$$ is the usual $$p$$-adic value. For $$x\in\mathbb R$$, we denote by $$\{x\}$$ the number in $$[-1/2,1/2[$$ such that $$x-\{x\}\in\mathbb Z$$. As usual, we put $$\|x\|= |\{x\}|$$.
Let $$\alpha$$ be a real number. Given a positive integer $$M$$, Dirichlet’s theorem asserts that for any $$n$$, there exists an integer $$q$$, with $$0<q\leq Mr_n$$, satisfying simultaneously the approximation condition $$\|q\|< 1/M$$ and the divisibility condition $$r_n|q$$, i.e., $$|q|_{\mathcal B}\leq 1/r_n$$. Indeed, it is enough to apply Dirichlet’s theorem to the number $$r_n\alpha$$. We thus find positive integers $$q$$ with
$q\|q\alpha\|\,|q|_{\mathcal B}<1.$
By analogy with Littlewood’s conjecture, we ask whether
$\inf_{q\in\mathbb N^*} q\|q\alpha\|\,|q|_{\mathcal B}=0 \tag{1}$
holds.
We do not know whether (1) is satisfied for any real number $$\alpha$$. In (loc. cit.), we have proved that if we assume that the sequence $${\mathcal B}= (b_k)_{k\geq1}$$ is bounded, (1) is true for every quadratic number $$\alpha$$. Here we prove:
Theorem. Assume that the sequence $${\mathcal B}$$ is bounded. Let $$\alpha$$ be a real quadratic number, and let $${\mathcal S}$$ be a set of integers $$q>1$$ with
$\|q\alpha\|\ll 1/q.\tag{2}$
Then there exists a constant $$\lambda= \lambda({\mathcal S})$$ such that
$|q|_{\mathcal B}\gg \frac{1}{(\ln q)^\lambda}, \tag{4}$
for any $$q\in{\mathcal S}$$.
One may expect that (4) holds for any $$\lambda>1$$, but we are not able to prove this. We do not even know whether there exists a real number $$\lambda$$ for which (4) holds for any set $${\mathcal S}$$ of integers $$q>1$$ satisfying (2). Indeed, Theorem 1.2 does not ensure that $$\sup_{\mathcal S} \lambda({\mathcal S})<+\infty$$.

### MSC:

 11J13 Simultaneous homogeneous approximation, linear forms 11J61 Approximation in non-Archimedean valuations

Zbl 1162.11361
Full Text:

### References:

 [1] M. Bauer, M. Bennett, Applications of the hypergeometric method to the generalized Ramanujan-Nagell equation. Ramanujan J. 6 (2002), 209-270. · Zbl 1010.11020 [2] Y. Bugeaud, M. Laurent, Minoration effective de la distance $$p$$-adique entre puissances de nombres algébriques. J. Number Theory 61 (1996), 311-342. · Zbl 0870.11045 [3] B. de Mathan, Linear forms in logarithms and simultaneous Diophantine approximation. (To appear). · Zbl 1195.11086 [4] B. de Mathan, Approximations diophantiennes dans un corps local. Bull. Soc. math. France, Mémoire 21 (1970). · Zbl 0221.10037 [5] B. de Mathan, O. Teulié, Problèmes diophantiens simultanés. Monatshefte Math. 143 (2004), 229-245. · Zbl 1162.11361 [6] D. Ridout, Rational approximations to algebraic numbers. Mathematika 4 (1957), 125-131. · Zbl 0079.27401 [7] L. G. Peck, Simultaneous rational approximations to algebraic numbers. Bull. Amer. Math. Soc. 67 (1961), 197-201. · Zbl 0098.26302 [8] K. Yu, $$p$$-adic logarithmic forms and group varieties II. Acta Arith. 89 (1999), 337-378. · Zbl 0928.11031
This reference list is based on information provided by the publisher or from digital mathematics libraries. Its items are heuristically matched to zbMATH identifiers and may contain data conversion errors. It attempts to reflect the references listed in the original paper as accurately as possible without claiming the completeness or perfect precision of the matching.


text:
To see a demonstration of the capabilities of liquidSVM from an R viewpoint, please look at the demo.

Disclaimer: liquidSVM and the R-bindings are in general quite stable and well tested by several people. However, use in production is at your own risk.

If you run into problems please check first the documentation for more details, or report the bug to the maintainer.

# Installation

There are several options to install the package.

The most convenient way is to use the standard install to get it from CRAN:

install.packages("liquidSVM")

You can also use our repository:

install.packages("liquidSVM", repos="http://www.isa.uni-stuttgart.de/software/R")

Remark that in R a package can be installed either as source or binary

Source (default on Linux Systems): : Allows for optimization to the system and liquidSVM can benefit a lot from these optimizations. The drawback is that this needs a C++ compiler. This is usually okay on Linux-systems, but on Windows one has to install https://cran.r-project.org/bin/windows/Rtools/, and on MacOS X https://itunes.apple.com/de/app/xcode/id497799835?mt=12 (https://developer.apple.com/download/.)

Binary (default on Windows and MacOS X): : compiled versions are provided, so you do not need compilers. However, these are optimized for generic processors (e.g. they do not use AVX), and hence you might do much better on your machine if you compile it yourself.

You can change the default behaviour of install.packages(...) under Windows/MacOS by using the parameter type="source".

The binaries in our repository are only compiled using R version 3.*. If you use another version, they might not work and you have to try source installation (type="source").

Note: on MacOS X there can be an issue with binary package installation. If you get the error tar: Failed to set default locale then consult

https://cran.r-project.org/bin/macosx/RMacOSX-FAQ.html#Internationalization-of-the-R_002eapp

Download the source or binary package from http://www.isa.uni-stuttgart.de/software/. On the command line use:

R CMD INSTALL path-to-package/liquidSVM_1.0.1.tar.gz
# Windows
Rcmd INSTALL path-to-package/liquidSVM_1.0.1.zip
# MacOS X using Termninal
R CMD INSTALL path-to-package/liquidSVM_1.0.1.tgz

or in a running R session:

install.packages("path-to-package/liquidSVM_1.0.1.tar.gz",repos=NULL)
# Windows binary
install.packages("path-to-package/liquidSVM_1.0.1.zip",repos=NULL)
# MacOS X binary
install.packages("path-to-package/liquidSVM_1.0.1.tgz",repos=NULL)

You can use also the means of any R-IDE. E.g. in RStudio go to the menu

Tools > Install packages...

Then set install from to package archive file (.tar.gz or .tgz) and choose your package and install the package.

## Advanced Configuration Options with Source Install

liquidSVM can be configured for different uses of available hardware. We provide the following configurations:

native : compiles for the current system, e.g. uses AVX or even AVX2 if available. This uses g++/clang++ -march=native -O3.

generic : compiles for a wide range of currently deployed CPUs (uses SSE). This uses g++/clang++ -mtune=generic -O3. Our binary packages are compiled with this configuration.

default : compiles using the default values provided by R.

debug : compiles with debugging enabled.

empty : gives no default compile arguments.

Additional compiler flags can be provided as well. On the command line, here are some examples:

R CMD INSTALL --configure-args=native path-to-package/liquidSVM_1.0.1.tar.gz
R CMD INSTALL --configure-args=generic path-to-package/liquidSVM_1.0.1.tar.gz
R CMD INSTALL --configure-args="empty -march=core2 -O3" path-to-package/liquidSVM_1.0.1.tar.gz

or in a running R session:

install.packages("liquidSVM",configure.args="native")
install.packages("liquidSVM",configure.args="generic")
install.packages("liquidSVM",configure.args="empty -march=core2 -O3")

Under MacOS you have to add the paramter type="source" in order to trigger compilation.

Hint: to see whether liquidSVM got compiled with SSE and/or AVX use:

compilationInfo()
#> [1] "Compiled without vectorization"

### Windows configuration

On Windows unfortunately neither --configure-args nor configure.args have any effect. We enable compilation configuration by reading the environment variable LIQUIDSVM_CONFIGURE_ARGS and using it in the same way as the configure args on the other platforms (see above). So on the Windows command line use

set LIQUIDSVM_CONFIGURE_ARGS=native
R CMD INSTALL path-to-package/liquidSVM_1.0.1.tar.gz

set LIQUIDSVM_CONFIGURE_ARGS=empty -march=core2 -O3
R CMD INSTALL path-to-package/liquidSVM_1.0.1.tar.gz

Remark that no quotation has to be used. It is not tested whether paths with spaces will work in this setting.

If you wish to install from within R you can specify the environment variable as well:

Sys.setenv(LIQUIDSVM_CONFIGURE_ARGS="native")
install.packages("liquidSVM")

Sys.setenv(LIQUIDSVM_CONFIGURE_ARGS="empty -march=core2 -O3")
install.packages("liquidSVM")

If you have https://cran.r-project.org/bin/windows/Rtools/ installed then you should definitely try to use native, because on Windows we use generic as the default configuration even for source installs.

### Common Problems

• MacOS X: It seems that in some cases clang++ -march=native does not activate AVX even if it is available. Hence if you know it is available, use configure.args="native -mavx" or even configure.args="native -mavx2".
• Windows: On one machine set LIQUIDSVM_CONFIGURE_ARGS=native compiled but crashed on execution: the compiler thought that FusedMultiplyAdd was available but it was not. The solution was to set LIQUIDSVM_CONFIGURE_ARGS=native -mno-fma

For GCC it can help to use g++ -Q --help=target -march=native ... to figure out which options trigger what optimizations. For both GCC and clang you can also print the compilation headers by g++ -march=native ... -dM -E - < /dev/null | egrep "SSE|AVX".

## CUDA

liquidSVM also is able to calculate the kernel on a GPU if it is compiled with CUDA-support. Since there is a big overhead in moving the kernel matrix from the GPU memory, this is most useful for problems with many feature-dimensions (see demo)

To activate CUDA support you have to specify its location (usually /usr/local/cuda) as a parameter to the configure arguments:

R CMD INSTALL --configure-args="native /my/path/to/cuda" path-to-package/liquidSVM_1.0.1.tar.gz

or again in R

install.packages('liquidSVM',configure.args="native /my/path/to/cuda")

Note that due to lack of testing machines this is known to work only on some Linux machines. The above instructions will probably not work on Windows!

If you have compiled with CUDA-support, you can activate it for a computation by using svm(..., GPUs=1):

# Configuration parameters

The uses of svm(...), lsSVM(...), mcSVM(...), etc. can be configured using the following parameters.

## Overview of Configuration Parameters

display : This parameter determines the amount of output of you see at the screen: The larger its value is, the more you see. This can help as a progress indication.

scale : If set to a true value then for every feature in the training data a scaling is calculated so that its values lie in the interval $$[0,1]$$. The training then is performed using these scaled values and any testing data is scaled transparently as well.

Because SVMs are not scale-invariant any data should be scaled
for two main reasons: First that all features have the same weight,
and second to assure that the default gamma parameters that liquidSVM
provide remain meaningful.

If you do not have scaled the data previously this is an easy option.

threads : This parameter determines the number of cores used for computing the kernel matrices, the validation error, and the test error.

* threads=0 (default) means that all physical cores of your CPU run one thread.
* threads=-1 means that all but one physical cores of your CPU run one thread.

partition_choice : This parameter determines the way the input space is partitioned. This allows larger data sets for which the kernel matrix does not fit into memory.

* partition_choice=0 (default) disables partitioning.
* partition_choice=6 gives usually highest speed.
* partition_choice=5 gives usually the best test error.

grid_choice : This parameter determines the size of the hyper- parameter grid used during the training phase. Larger values correspond to larger grids. By default, a 10x10 grid is used. Exact descriptions are given in the next section.

adaptivity_control : This parameter determines, whether an adaptive grid search heuristic is employed. Larger values lead to more aggressive strategies. The default adaptivity_control = 0 disables the heuristic.

random_seed : This parameter determines the seed for the random generator. random_seed = -1 uses the internal timer create the seed. All other values lead to repeatable behavior of the svm.

folds : How many folds should be used.

## Specialized configuration parameters

Parameters for regression (least-squares, quantile, and expectile)

clipping : This parameter determines whether the decision functions should be clipped at the specified value. The value clipping = -1.0 leads to an adaptive clipping value, whereas clipping = 0 disables clipping.

Parameter for multiclass classification determine the multiclass strategy: mc-type=0 : AvA with hinge loss. mc-type=1 : OvA with least squares loss. mc-type=2 : OvA with hinge loss. mc-type=3 : AvA with least squares loss.

Parameters for Neyman-Pearson Learning

class : The class, the constraint is enforced on.

constraint : The constraint on the false alarm rate. The script actually considers a couple of values around the value of constraint to give the user an informed choice.

## Hyperparameter Grid

For Support Vector Machines two hyperparameters need to be determined:

• gamma the bandwith of the kernel
• lambda has to be chosen such that neither over- nor underfitting happen. lambda values are the classical regularization parameter in front of the norm term.

liquidSVM has a built-in a cross-validation scheme to calculate validation errors for many values of these hyperparameters and then to choose the best pair. Since there are two parameters this means we consider a two-dimensional grid.

For both parameters either specific values can be given or a geometrically spaced grid can be specified.

gamma_steps, min_gamma, max_gamma : specifies in the interval between min_gamma and max_gamma there should be gamma_steps many values

gammas : e.g. gammas=c(0.1,1,10,100) will do these four gamma values

lambda_steps, min_lambda, max_lambda : specifies in the interval between min_lambda and max_lambda there should be lambda_steps many values

lambdas : e.g. lambdas=c(0.1,1,10,100) will do these four lambda values

c_values : the classical term in front of the empirical error term, e.g. c_values=c(0.1,1,10,100) will do these four cost values (basically inverse of lambdas)

Note the min and max values are scaled according the the number of samples, the dimensionality of the data sets, the number of folds used, and the estimated diameter of the data set.

Using grid_choice allows for some general choices of these parameters

grid_choice 0 1 2
gamma_steps 10 15 20
lambda_steps 10 15 20
min_gamma 0.2 0.1 0.05
max_gamma 5.0 10.0 20.0
min_lambda 0.001 0.0001 0.00001
max_lambda 0.01 0.01 0.01

Using negative values of grid_choice we create a grid with listed gamma and lambda values:

grid_choice -1
gammas c(10.0, 5.0, 2.0, 1.0, 0.5, 0.25, 0.1, 0.05)
lambdas c(1.0, 0.1, 0.01, 0.001, 0.0001, 0.00001, 0.000001, 0.0000001)
grid_choice -2
gammas c(10.0, 5.0, 2.0, 1.0, 0.5, 0.25, 0.1, 0.05)
c_values c(0.01, 0.1, 1, 10, 100, 1000, 10000)

An adaptive grid search can be activated. The higher the values of MAX_LAMBDA_INCREASES and MAX_NUMBER_OF_WORSE_GAMMAS are set the more conservative the search strategy is. The values can be freely modified.

ADAPTIVITY_CONTROL 1 2
MAX_LAMBDA_INCREASES 4 3
MAX_NUMBER_OF_WORSE_GAMMAS 4 3

## Cells

A major issue with SVMs is that for larger sample sizes the kernel matrix does not fit into the memory any more. Classically this gives an upper limit for the class of problems that traditional SVMs can handle without significant runtime increase. Furthermore also the time complexity is at least $$O(n^2)$$.

liquidSVM implements two major concepts to circumvent these issues. One is random chunks which is known well in the literature. However we prefer the new alternative of splitting the space into spatial cells and use local SVMs on every cell.

If you specify useCells=TRUE then the sample space $$X$$ gets partitioned into a number of cells. The training is done first for cell 1 then for cell 2 and so on. Now, to predict the label for a value $$x\in X$$ liquidSVM first finds out to which cell this $$x$$ belongs and then uses the SVM of that cell to predict a label for it.

If you run into memory issues turn cells on: useCells=TRUE

This is quite performant, since the complexity in both time and memore are both $$O(\mbox{CELLSIZE} \times n)$$ and this holds both for training as well as testing! It also can be shown that the quality of the solution is comparable, at least for moderate dimensions.

The cells can be configured using the partition_choice:

1) This gives a partition into random chunks of size 2000

VORONOI=c(1, 2000)

2) This gives a partition into 10 random chunks

VORONOI=c(2, 10)

3) This gives a Voronoi partition into cells with radius not larger than 1.0. For its creation a subsample containing at most 50.000 samples is used.

  VORONOI=c(3, 1.0, 50000)

4) This gives a Voronoi partition into cells with at most 2000 samples (approximately). For its creation a subsample containing at most 50.000 samples is used. A shrinking heuristic is used to reduce the number of cells.

  VORONOI=c(4, 2000, 1, 50000)

5) This gives a overlapping regions with at most 2000 samples (approximately). For its creation a subsample containing at most 50.000 samples is used. A stopping heuristic is used to stop the creation of regions if 0.5 * 2000 samples have not been assigned to a region, yet.

VORONOI=c(5, 2000, 0.5, 50000, 1)

6) This splits the working sets into Voronoi like with PARTITION_TYPE=4. Unlike that case, the centers for the Voronoi partition are found by a recursive tree approach, which in many cases may be faster.

 VORONOI=c(6, 2000, 1, 50000, 2.0, 20, 4,)

The first parameter values correspond to NO_PARTITION, RANDOM_CHUNK_BY_SIZE, RANDOM_CHUNK_BY_NUMBER, VORONOI_BY_RADIUS, VORONOI_BY_SIZE, OVERLAP_BY_SIZE

## Weights

• qt, ex: Here the number of considered tau-quantiles/expectiles as well as the considered tau-values are defined. You can freely change these values but notice that the list of tau-values is space-separated!

• npl, roc: Here, you define, which weighted classification problems will be considered. The choice is usually a bit tricky. Good luck …

NPL:
WEIGHT_STEPS=10
MIN_WEIGHT=0.001
MAX_WEIGHT=0.5
GEO_WEIGHTS=1

ROC:
WEIGHT_STEPS=9
MAX_WEIGHT=0.9
MIN_WEIGHT=0.1
GEO_WEIGHTS=0

## Grouped Cross Validation

By specifying groupIds when initializing an SVM samples obtain group ids. This by default also sets FOLDS_KIND to GROUPED. If the latter is the case then samples with the same group id will be put into the same fold at cross validation. This is important if e.g. there are several patients with several measurements each.

## More Advanced Parameters

The following parameters should only employed by experienced users and are self-explanatory for these:

KERNEL : specifies the kernel to use, at the moment either GAUSS_RBF or POISSON

RETRAIN_METHOD : After training on grids and folds there are only solutions on folds. In order to construct a global solution one can either retrain on the whole training data (SELECT_ON_ENTIRE_TRAIN_SET) or the (partial) solutions from the training are kept and combined using voting (SELECT_ON_EACH_FOLD default)

store_solutions_internally : If this is true (default in all applicable cases) then the solutions of the train phase are stored and can be just reused in the select phase. If you slowly run out of memory during the train phase maybe disable this. However then in the select phase the best models have to be trained again.

For completeness here are some values that usually get set by the learning scenario

SVM_TYPE : KERNEL_RULE, SVM_LS_2D, SVM_HINGE_2D, SVM_QUANTILE, SVM_EXPECTILE_2D, SVM_TEMPLATE

LOSS_TYPE : CLASSIFICATION_LOSS, MULTI_CLASS_LOSS, LEAST_SQUARES_LOSS, WEIGHTED_LEAST_SQUARES_LOSS, PINBALL_LOSS, TEMPLATE_LOSS

VOTE_SCENARIO : VOTE_CLASSIFICATION, VOTE_REGRESSION, VOTE_NPL

KERNEL_MEMORY_MODEL : LINE_BY_LINE, BLOCK, CACHE, EMPTY

FOLDS_KIND : BLOCKS, ALTERNATING, RANDOM, STRATIFIED, GROUPED, RANDOM_SUBSET

WS_TYPE : FULL_SET, MULTI_CLASS_ALL_VS_ALL, MULTI_CLASS_ONE_VS_ALL, BOOT_STRAP

# Known Issues / Common Problems

• Ctrl-C / Interrupt is tricky. It works most of the time, but it can fail. If you get weird results or errors save your models and restart the R session.

• CUDA has not been tested neither on Windows nor on macOS.

• 32-bit has been seen to work but is not supported.

## Using external parallelization

liquidSVM does its own threading - hence do not parallelize on top of that, unless you know what you are doing. Hence just give the parameter threads=n or let the default use all of your physical cores.

If you really want to do it yourself you have to serialze the solutions. Furthermore you have to be carefule to assign disjoint cores else they will fight for the same core:

library(parallel)
## how big should the cluster be
workers <- 2
cl <- makeCluster(workers)
## how many threads should each worker use
## to make it interesting use disjoint parts of sml$train data <- sml$train[ seq(i,nrow(sml$train),workers) , ] ## the second argument to threads sets the offset of cores model <- lsSVM(Y~., data, threads=c(threads,threads*(i-1)) ) ## finally return the serialized solution serialize.liquidSVM(model) }) for(i in 1:workers){ ## get the solution in the master session model <- unserialize.liquidSVM(obj[[i]]) print(errors(test(model,sml$test)))


text:
Optimization of Cones

1. Sep 29, 2007

fubag

Find the maximum volume of a right circular cone placed upside down in a right circular cone of radius R and height H. The volume of a cone of radius r and height h is 4/3pir^2h.

I need help starting this one up...

Any feedback will be appreciated.

2. Sep 29, 2007

mjsd

a picture or two may be needed for me to see the exact criteria as to how the cone must be placed inside the othe cone.... or do u have to work that out during the optimization process too?

3. Sep 29, 2007

fubag

Last edited by a moderator: May 3, 2017
4. Sep 29, 2007

mjsd

so the axis of symmetry must align?

shall need a function of h in terms of r or vice-versa where R, H are fixed variables.

Last edited: Sep 29, 2007
5. Sep 30, 2007

HallsofIvy

Looked at "from the side" you have two triangles. You should be able to find the equation for the sides of the large triangle (i.e. large cone) and use that to find the radius of the base of the small cone as a function of its height.

6. Sep 30, 2007

fubag

ok so.. equation for the sides of the large triangle =

S = 2R + 2sqrt.(H^2 + R^2)

im not sure how to solve for the radius of the small cone as a functon of its height

7. Sep 30, 2007

HallsofIvy

How about drawing a picture? Where exactly does a cone of height h intersect that line- in other words, when h= H, what is R?

Your "equation for the sides of the large triangle makes no sense because it involves 3 variables. If "R" and "H" are the radius and height of the cone, what is "S"?

8. Sep 30, 2007

fubag

R is in respect to H, so R=r...?

9. Sep 30, 2007

fubag

ok

and drew a diagram

and now I have

r = 1/2R

and h = 1/2H

so the next step is maximizing this...?

with respect to t, or x, or what?

V = 4/3pi (R/2)^2(H/2)
dV/dx?

how can I solve for the bigger R in terms of H?

Last edited: Sep 30, 2007
10. Oct 1, 2007

HallsofIvy

No, r is not (1/2)R! Taking (0,0) as the point of the large cone, the axis of the cone as the y-axis, the right side of the large cone has equation y= (H/R)x so that when x= 0, y= 0, the point of the cone, and when x= R, y= H. Your small cone has its point at y= H. When x= r, its side touches that line. Of course, at that point, the y coordinate is H-h. Put x= r, y= H-h into the equation y= (H/R)x and you get H-h= (H/R)r or r= (R/H)(H-h)= R- (R/H)h.

You might find it simpler to write h as a function of r: h= (H/R)(R-r)= H- (H/R)r.

Last edited by a moderator: Oct 1, 2007
11. Oct 1, 2007

fubag

if i draw the larger cone as a triangle, and the smaller cone as an upside down triangle within the larger, cone, I can clearly see 4 triangle being formed...so in order to maximize the smaller cones area...I took 1/4 the area of the larger cone, using the formula A = 1/2bh...

that is how I got r = (1/2)R and h= (1/2)H.

but after looking at your last post, I got a little confused...even after acquiring the function of h in terms of r and H, how can I precede the question to find the maximum value of the smaller cone?

12. Oct 1, 2007

HallsofIvy

WHY did you take "1/4 the area of the larger cone"? The whole point of the question is to determine what the maximum area of the smaller cone can be. How do you know before you even start that it will be 1/4 of the area?

13. Oct 1, 2007

fubag

we are looking for maximum volume of the cone, not area...

but ok...I understand that I cant assume that...

I redrew the triangles, and this time saw why.

my teacher hinted about finding the volume of the inner cone with respect to h..so now do I just use that equation of h(r) above and plug it back into the volume of a cone and take the derivative and set it equal to zero?

14. Oct 1, 2007

HallsofIvy

Excuse me. YOU were the one who said "so in order to maximize the smaller cones area...I took 1/4 the area of the larger cone, using the formula A = 1/2bh..."

15. Oct 1, 2007

hotvette

I think there is a typo on the volume of a cone - should be 1/3 instead of 4/3. Re how to solve, the most straightforward is:

1. Determine r or h in terms of H,R (simple trig w/ triangles)
2. Substitute into equation for V to get V = f(r) or V = f(h)
3. Take derivative of (2), set = 0, and solve


text:
What determines the structure of short gamma-ray burst jets?
ABSTRACT The discovery of GRB 170817A, the first unambiguous off-axis short gamma-ray burst (sGRB) arising from a neutron star merger, has challenged our understanding of the angular structure of relativistic jets. Studies of the jet propagation usually assume that the jet is ejected from the central engine with a top-hat structure and its final structure, which determines the observed light curve and spectra, is primarily regulated by the interaction with the nearby environment. However, jets are expected to be produced with a structure that is more complex than a simple top-hat, as shown by global accretion simulations. We present numerical simulations of sGRBs launched with a wide range of initial structures, durations, and luminosities. We follow the jet interaction with the merger remnant wind and compute its final structure at distances ≳1011 cm from the central engine. We show that the final jet structure, as well as the resulting afterglow emission, depends strongly on the initial structure of the jet, its luminosity, and duration. While the initial structure of the jet is preserved for long-lasting sGRBs, it is strongly modified for jets barely making their way through the wind. This illustrates the importance of combining the results of global simulations with more »
Authors:
; ; ;
Award ID(s):
Publication Date:
NSF-PAR ID:
10299599
Journal Name:
Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society
Volume:
503
Issue:
3
Page Range or eLocation-ID:
4363 to 4371
ISSN:
0035-8711
1. ABSTRACT Neutron star mergers produce a substantial amount of fast-moving ejecta, expanding outwardly for years after the merger. The interaction of these ejecta with the surrounding medium may produce a weak isotropic radio remnant, detectable in relatively nearby events. We use late-time radio observations of short duration gamma-ray bursts (sGRBs) to constrain this model. Two samples of events were studied: four sGRBs that are possibly in the local (<200 Mpc) Universe were selected to constrain the remnant non-thermal emission from the sub-relativistic ejecta, whereas 17 sGRBs at cosmological distances were used to constrain the presence of a proto-magnetar central engine, possibly re-energizing the merger ejecta. We consider the case of GRB 170817A/GW170817 and find that in this case the early radio emission may be quenched by the jet blast-wave. In all cases, for ejecta mass range of ${M}_{\rm {ej}}\lesssim 10^{-2}\, (5\times 10^{-2})\, \mathrm{M}_\odot$, we can rule out very energetic merger ejecta ${E}_{\rm {ej}}\gtrsim 5\times 10^{52}\, (10^{53})\, \rm erg$, thus excluding the presence of a powerful magnetar as a merger remnant.


text:
Tamil Nadu Board of Secondary EducationSSLC (English Medium) Class 10th

# A coin is tossed thrice. Find the probability of getting exactly two heads or atleast one tail or two consecutive heads - Mathematics

Sum

A coin is tossed thrice. Find the probability of getting exactly two heads or atleast one tail or two consecutive heads

#### Solution

Sample space = {HHH, HHT, HTH, HTT, THH, THT, TTH, TTT}

n(S) = 8

Let A be the event of getting exactly two heads.

A = {HHT, HTH, THH}

n(A) = 3

P(A) = ("n"("A"))/("n"("S")) = 3/8

Let B be the event of getting atleast one tail

B = {HHT, HTH, HTT, THH, THT, TTH, TTT}

n(B) = 7

P(B) = ("n"("B"))/("n"("S")) = 7/8

Let C be the event of getting consecutively

C = {HHH, HHT, THH}

n(C) = 3

P(C) = ("n"("C"))/("n"("S")) = 3/8

A ∩ B = {HHT, HTH, THH}

n(A ∩ B) = 3

p(A ∩ B) = ("n"("A" ∩ "B"))/("n"("S")) = 3/8

B ∩ C = {HHT, THH}

n(B ∩ C) = 2

P(B ∩ C) = ("n"("B" ∩ "C"))/("n"("S")) = 2/8

A ∩ C = {HHT, THH}

n(A ∩ C) = 2

P(A ∩ C) = ("n"("A" ∩ "C"))/("n"("S")) = 2/8

(A ∩ B ∩ C) = {HHT, THH}

n(A ∩ B ∩ C) = 2

P(A ∩ B ∩ C) = ("n"("A" ∩ "B" ∩ "C"))/("n"("S")) = 2/8

P(A ∪ B ∪ C) = P(A) + P(B) + P(C) − P(A ∩ B) − P(B ∩ C) − P(A ∩ C) + P(A ∩ B ∩ C)

= 3/8 + 7/8 + 3/8 - 3/8 - 2/8 - 2/8 + 2/8

= 3/8 + 7/8 - 2/8

= (10 - 2)/8

= 8/8

= 1

The probability is 1.

Is there an error in this question or solution?