Ground Zero 'Mosque'

A few people I know have posted about the Ground Zero 'Mosque'. I was going to reply directly in Facebook, but I did not want to seem inflammatory or start an argument on someone else's wall, so I will post my feelings here. Please feel free to reply and correct me if I am wrong.


As far as the 'mosque' is concerned:

1) It's not a mosque it is an Islamic community center and it's open to non-Muslims. You can think of it as an Islamic version of a YMCA or JCC (specifically modeled after the 92nd Street Y and Manhattan JCC). Yes it does include prayer space which I believe will be located on the 12th and 13th floor. Most if not all YMCAs have chapels inside.

2) It's not at ground zero. It's 2 blocks away from the edge of the World Trade Center site. This is more than 5 blocks from the location of the ground zero memorial. It will be replace a Burlington Coat Factory (not exactly hallowed ground)

3) There are two Christian churches that are closer to the ground zero memorial location.

4) Not all Muslims are terrorists. There are approximately 1.57 billion Muslims in the world and 2 billion Christians. Throughout history Christians have committed quite a few atrocities too. Oddly enough this does not make all Christians bad, so why is it not the same for Muslims.

I think it would be good to have a place for Muslims near the WTC site. Many will want to learn about what happened and maybe even pray for those that lost their life (28 of the people that died while working in the WTC were Muslim)

I guess there could be some possibility that the developers are building this because they have some desire to shove it in the face of non-Muslim Americans or perhaps there is some underlying conspiracy that goes along with this community center, but I do not think so and have not heard any valid arguments that show that it is.

We Americans need to continue to show that our country is built on the principle of religious freedom. We should all turn the other cheek and treat others as we wish to be treated.

If you really are nervous that something evil is going on there I suggest you get a membership once it is built, so that you can play some basketball, take a swim and keep an eye on the Muslims.

More About the WBC

I enjoy watching international competitions, so I continue to watch the WBC although the format has me completely frustrated. I have already posted once about this topic, but I still need to vent.

Japan has to play Cuba again tonight to determine which team will move on to the semi-finals. If Japan is able to pull out the win they will have to play Korea again in a meaningless game to determine seeding for the semi-finals. I have trouble understanding why they even have the final seeding game. One team going into the seeding game will always be undefeated and the other will have one loss. Isn't that information enough to determine the seeding? Seeding is esentially irrelevant when there are only four teams in a bracket and the two teams move into the same bracket together. At least the seeding would make a little sense if the two teams went to different pools rather than moving on to the same pool as they do. Why put the players through another game and waste another pitcher? In 66% of the cases the seeding game will be a rematch, so couldn't the earlier head to head outcome determine the seeds. Basically the seeding game just looks like an effort to make more money. If the goal is to add a few more games, maybe they should just add a few more countries to the mix. This will at least diminish the wear and tear on the pitchers.

In order to win the tournament, Japan will have to play Korea at least 4 times (possibly 5) out of the 9 games that they could play in the WBC. There are 16 teams in the tournament, why are they playing half of there games against one team? I understand that the different pools are in different locations, but at least if they mixed the teams in the second round they would play a greater variety without having to adjust the travel schedule too much.

Korea and Japan came out of Pool A (Tokyo)
Cuba and Mexico came out of Pool B (Mexico City)
Venezuela and USA came out of Pool C (Toronto)
Puerto Rico and The Netherlands came out of Pool D (San Juan)

The current system had Pool A and B moving to Pool 1 and Pool C and D moving to Pool 2.

I think the first seeds from A and B along with the second seeds from C and D should have gone to Pool 1 with the remaining teams going to Pool 2. The added benefit would be that the second seeded teams would need to travel farther to get to the location for the second round pool making the seeding game have some meaning. I would think the winner of Pool A would rather play the second round in California rather than Florida.

The good news is that Korea and USA are still in it. I get to root for Korea since my wife is South Korean. I also like that Japan and Venezuela are still in it since I have close friends from each country. I hope they all make it to the semi-finals together and then through some miracle USA can get to the finals against Korea.

My wife only gets interested in sports when Korea is playing the USA.....Realistically, I suspect USA will play against Korea in the semis and lose.

World Baseball Classic

Don't read this long boring post if you are not interested in baseball or international tournaments. :)

Can someone explain to me why the WBC has such a confusing method for determining the champion? There have been tournaments forever and it seems there is an established understanding of what is fair, but the WBC just makes no sense. It made no sense in 2006 and perhaps is worse this time around.

In the 2006 WBC 16 teams were invited. Those 16 teams were split into 4 groups of four. Within each group there was a round robin tournament in which each team played each other team one time. The top two teams then would move on to the next round of the tournament. The only downside in this system was that multiple teams within a pool could have the same record, so some sort of tiebreaker was necessary to determine which teams would move on. For instance Pool B (Mexico, USA, Canada, South Africa) had three teams with the same 2 wins and 1 loss record (South Africa was 0-3). This meant that the head to head tiebreaker would not work, so fewest runs per 9 innings was used to break the tie. This meant that The USA and Mexico advance having allowed an average of 4 and 1.59 runs per 9 innings, while Canada was eliminated (having allowed 7.5 runs per 9 innings). That tiebreaker method is dumb, however the teams did know it going in, so it is not horrible.

Two teams from each pool moved onto the second round. The second round was also round robin with the Pool A and B moving to Pool 1 and the teams from Pool C and D moving to Pool 2. This to me was the big mistake. Most other big tournaments have the second round pools or brackets mixed so that teams do not play the same teams they played in the first round.For instance they might have the Pool A and B champion move to Pool 1 along with the second place teams from Pool C and D. This prevents the same teams from playing over and over and allows the best teams to come through. If the two best teams were in a first round pool together and then moved two a second round pool together they can only beat up on each other rather than eliminating what might be weaker teams in other pools.

The runs allowed per 9 innings tie breaker was necessary again in Pool 1 of the second round. South Korea was undefeated and won the pool, but Japan, USA and Mexico all had 1 win and 2 losses. Japan took second place in the pool because they had only allowed 2.5 runs per 9 inning while USA and Mexico allowed 2.64 and 3.5 respectively.

At this point the 4 remaining teams advanced to a single elimination bracket tournament. The semifinal matches were Japan vs Korea and Cuba vs the Dominican Republic. The respective record for the remaining teams were: Korea 6-0, Japan 3-3, Cuba 4-2 and Dominican Republic 5-1. I am not sure how the matchups were determined for the semifinal, but nonetehless it is baffling that Korean would have to play Japan again in this third round of the tournament (especially when it is single elimination). Japan should have only been able to play Korea again if they were to reach the finals. Nonetheless, Japan was able to beat and eliminate Korea in the semis and moved onto the finals against Cuba. Korea and the DR were given 3rd and 4th place respectively as there was no consolation game. Japan was able to beat Cuba in the final to win the tournament.

Just in case you want to see how the bracket worked and my explanation does not make sense: Wikipedia 2006 WBC

All in all this to me was a completely stupid tournament system. I did not like the runs allowed per inning tie breaker, but I don't think that was a major problem since there always needs to be some sort of difficult tiebreaking procedure in a round robin tournament. The problem is that they did not mix the pools and brackets as they moved to each new round and instead made the same teams play over and over. Everyone know that any team can take out any other team in a single game This is why the Major League playoffs are multi game series, so that the strong team can prevail. Of course Japan would beat Korea if given enough opportunities. Even in the FIFA World Cup, Rugby World Cup and Cricket World Cup they do not let teams that met in first round pool play to play again until the finals.

I had heard that the MLB had fixed the system for the 2009 WBC. I clicked over to the bracket to see what they had done. I assumed they would make some change that kept first round pool members from meeting again before they reach the finals, but instead they only fixed the tie breaker issue. This year Korea and Japan are again in the same first round pool and they have both advance to the second round pool together. So basically the tournament is just like last year, except now because of the new tie-breaker two teams could play each other as much 4 times before even reaching the semifinals and then have to play again in the final. Who is the idiot that thinks this makes sense? At least they have made it impossible for teams the have played each other in the second round pool to meet up in the semifinals, but I find it hard to believe that it is a good thing for ratings to have the same teams playing each other over in over in pool play?

At this point Japan and Korea have already played twice and will have to play at least one more time (but maybe 2) if they are to both move on to the semifinal bracket. Then they could meet again in the finals for their fourth or fifth game. In a 16 team tournament where a team can play a minimum of 8 games to win the championship, it seems a little stupid that as many as 5 of those 8 games could be against the same team.

By the way, the same issue can happen on the other side of the bracket where the Pool C teams (USA and Venezuela) and Pool D teams (Netherlands and Puerto Rico) could play as many as 5 times if they each reach the finals.

Only Yes or No

Only Yes or No Share

1. You can ONLY answer Yes or No!

2. You are NOT ALLOWED to explain ANYTHING unless someone messages or comments you and Asks!



Now, here's what you're supposed to do... And please do not spoil the
Fun. Copy and paste this into your notes , delete my answers, type in
your answers and tag as many of your friends as you'd like to. Then see
what happens.



Kissed anyone of your facebook friends? No

Been arrested? Yes

Kissed someone you didn't like? No

Slept in until 5 PM? No

Fallen asleep at work/school? Yes

Held a snake? Yes

Ran a red light? Yes

Been suspended from school? No

Totaled your car/motorbike in an accident? No

Been fired from a job? No

Sang karaoke? Yes

Done something you told yourself you wouldn't? No

Laughed until something you were drinking came out your nose? No

Caught a snowflake on your tongue? Yes

Kissed in the rain? Yes

Sang in the shower? Yes

Sat on a rooftop? Yes

Been pushed into a pool with all your clothes? No

Broken a bone? Yes

Shaved your head? Yes

Blacked out from drinking? Yes

Played a prank on someone? Yes

Felt like killing someone? No

Made your girlfriend/boyfriend cry? Yes

Had Mexican jumping beans for pets? No

Been in a band? No

Shot a gun? Yes

Donated Blood? Yes

Eaten alligator meat? Yes

Eaten cheesecake? Yes

Still love someone you shouldn't? No

Think about the future? Yes

Believe in love? Yes

Sleep on a certain side of the bed? No

Talk in your sleep? No

Laughed until you peed your pants? No

Spend too much time on facebook? Yes

Played a musical instrument? Yes

Lived outside of the country? No

Been skinny dipping? No

Gone sky diving? No

Dated someone longer than you should have? No