If I'm honest with myself no one will actually read this blog. Because I'm aware of that I'll post things that are on my mind and in my life. A lot of the posts will be about topics I'm passionate about...mostly college football and proper business management techniques.
My Two Topical Passions
I had started another blog about my Mountain West Conference teams for college football and about how they should be an automatic BCS qualifying conference. I still believe that but as I was beginning to publish my first blog with some amazing stats on the MWC TCU lost their game to Boise State. Knowing how the media jumps on the MWC bandwagon the moment they have any measure of success and then jumps off even quicker when they lose games I figured it was a moot point. It should be noted, however, that statistically the MWC is an elite conference. A lot of the talking heads from ESPN and Fox Sports claim that the MWC is top heavy but the statistics I've found debunk that myth. For example for the past decade the MWC has had between 40 and 60% of it's teams with winning records. Our teams winning against bigger teams all the time.
- BYU beat Oregon State a highly touted team (who were a touchdown away from the Rose Bowl) with a celebrated QB and the Rogers brothers but BYU made them look like the lowest of the WAC teams.
- Utah dismantled the same Cal team that was ranked 5th earlier in the season. Some people argue that had Jahved Best played Utah wouldn't have won but I argue if your season rises or falls depending on one player being in the game are you really an elite team or just a decent team with one good player?
- Wyoming beat a good Fresno State team which isn't necessarily a huge win except that Fresno State, according to some pollsters, was predicted to thump Wyoming 34-0.
- Air Force beat a Houston team that was ranked in the top 15 who's QB was in the Heisman hunt through most of the season. In that one bowl game Air Force forced more turnovers from their QB than he had thrown in the other 12 games combined.
In fact, until the TCU game the MWC had beaten their bowl opponents by an average of 17 points--that's 2 touchdowns and a field goal!! Then the Fiesta Bowl happened. It was clear that TCU thought what most people thought--that they'd roll over Boise State--and so they didn't show up at all except in brief flashes. But every season it happens. A couple of our teams have big wins and everyone, including the national media start talking National Championship and Heismann and then the moment they have a less than stellar performance the talking heads start this talk about the team being "overrated." This is always comical to me because if the team is overrated it's their fault, not the teams. BYU in 2008 thumped UCLA, Washington State and a few other decent teams. The Heismann talk for Max Hall started, BCS buster talk started all before the 3rd week and then they lost to TCU and every ESPN tool in the nation started screaming "overrated." These are the same people that were touting the team 3 days earlier. It happened again this season when BYU beat Oklahoma. People quickly jumped off the wagon when we fell to Florida State and started calling for Max's head but statistically Max was an elite QB. He averaged 9.3 yds per pass attempt, passed more than most QB's and still completed about 70% of his passes! Do we realize what that means? I contend that the MWC is just as elite as the Big 10, the ACC, the Big East, and often the Pac-10. I contend that the reason why the MWC isn't an automatic qualifying conference isn't because they're not good enough but has everything to do with their teams falling in small media markets.
My second topical passion is principles of Business Management, specifically the Managing and Motivating--the leading--part of management. Yes, that's my major in school, but outside of school I devour books about management because I believe in the future, companies who will be elite companies in the global economy will be companies that know how to utilize their human capital (cherish their employees). Sadly, most companies that many of us work for are not elite. I've had more than my share of terrible businesses I've worked for and so it gives me a contrast between how things should be based on the books I read and the things I study, and how things shouldn't be. While the fields of Human Resource Management and Organizational Behavior (the psychology of management and leadership) are not necessarily new, they're receiving a much larger audience in recent years and so they are starting to explode. Organizations are becoming more aware that the way they've treated their employees isn't getting the job done. What a paradigm shift!! These two topics will provide the framework for my blogs, of course I'm sure I will stray from time to time. Enjoy!!
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