Costume Redux

I think the whole Clark Kent thing went well. When I first showed up to the pre-party, I was all buttoned up - no evidence of Superman. I had on the jacket, tie, and glasses. My friend Chris asked me if I was a "nerdy professor." I told him that someday I would be, but not that night! Instead, I said I was a "mild-mannered reporter." People had confused looks on their faces... then - shabam! - I pulled open the shirt. They loved it. One girl at the party had me close up the shirt so I could do the "transformation" a couple more times!

Throughout the night as people showed up, they didn't always see me from the front. I got a couple looks from people that said, "What's he supposed to be?" I had a few people see me from the front and then say, "That's great! I was wondering what you were!"

Unfortuantely, when we got to the main party, there were three other Clark Kents running around, including a bald black guy. I felt like the girl at prom who sees someone wearing the same dress!

There were a couple team costumes I really liked. A guy and his wife were Calvin & Hobbes. It took me a while to recognize it. For some reason, the Calvin outfit looked familiar, but I couldn't place it. I guess the fact that he was running around with a tiger wasn't a big enough clue.

The one that I really liked was five guys that recreated the Halloween scene from "Karate Kid." One of them was Ralph Macchio dressed as a shower, while the other guys were the evil Cobra Kai dojo guys dressed as skeletons! When I first saw the shower guy, I thought he was ripping off the movie. When I saw the other four guys, I thought it was classic...

Read more!

Costume

I've been trying to figure out what I'm going to wear for Halloween... there's a big party tonight that the MBAs have, so I need a costume today. I've been trying to figure out something I can make at home since anything I find in the stores is going to be pretty picked over by now.

I have an idea, but I wanted some feedback.

I'm going to get myself some cheap glasses and wear a sports coat with a white shirt. The tie is going to be loosened and some of the buttons on the shirt undone revealing a blue t-shirt with the Superman logo on it.

That's right... my idea is to go as Clark Kent.

I only need two things. I'll buy some cheap sunglasses and take out the lenses. As for the Superman logo, I need either a logo t-shirt or something that I can cut out and pin to a blue shirt I already have.

What do you think? Presentable? Excessively lame?

Read more!

Go Cards!

No offense to my good friend Chops, but his comment to my last post reminded me who I should be rooting for... the Cardinals.

I'm a National League fan and I should start acting like it. The tough part is that I spend 162 regular season games rooting against all National League teams not from LA. But that means nothing when it comes to the Series. I want the NL to show that they're not the doormats that elitist AL fans like Chops say they are!

The Cardinals are legit. They have an amazing lineup, solid defense, and great pitching staff headed by Chris Carpenter. The fact that the team only won 83 games isn't indicative of who the Cardinals really are. At the end of the season, when they almost blew the NL Central lead, they had several injuries that decimated their lineup. The team they are fielding now is the team that they had at the beginning of the year when they were the class of the National League. All their players are healthy and playing well. Their only downside is that they seem to think they can rely on Jeff Weaver, the guy that was unceremoniously dumped by Anaheim in favor of his little brother and that lost Game 2 for the Cardinals. He's scheduled to pitch again in Game 5.

The Tigers, on the other hand, look like the team that doesn't belong. Their pitching has been average, at best. Their lineup has been punchless, especially the heart of the order, which was hitless going into tonight's game. And the defense? Bad. It's embarrassing to have a World Series team averaging an error a game by the pitching staff alone! They look young and inexperienced.

I fully expect Jeff Weaver to lose game 5 and then the Cardinals to wrap up the Series in Game 6 in Detroit. Then again, my predictions haven't always been accurate...

Read more!

Who to root for?!?

Had the Mets beaten the Cardinals, I would've known who to root for in the World Series... Detroit. Instead, St Louis won game seven and I have no idea who I want to win.

I just got home from watching the first game of the Series at a local bar with a friend of mine. While there, I found myself switching who I war rooting for.

At first, I thought Detroit. They lost 119 games three years ago and 91 last year. If they can turn it around, there's hope for the Dodgers. Go Tigers!

Then came all the anti-Cardinals hype. Everybody seemed to expect the Tigers to win the World Series in five games or less. That made me root for the underdogs. Go Cardinals!

Then the game started and I was back wanting the Tigers to win. Verlander's a rookie and an awesome pitcher. Go Tigers!

Then the bottom of the first came and Reyes took the mound. He was the least-winningest pitcher to ever start the first game of the World Series and was sporting an ERA of over 5. I didn't want him to get his ass handed to him, so I cheered for him. Go Cardinals!

Then I figured that Reyes probably shouldn't be starting Game 1. Isn't there anybody else the Cardinals could've pitched? Go Tigers!

Then the Cardinals started scoring and I got excited for them. Plus, Reyes was pitching an awesome game. Go Cardinals!

Then it became a blowout. I wanted the game to get interesting again. Go Tigers!

The Cardinals won. I'm now excited about the National League winning a World Series. Go Cardinals!

I have a feeling it's going to be back and forth like this for the rest of the Series...

Read more!

Pick me up

Today wasn't the best day. I'm not going to get into it, but it ended badly.

I was in need of something to make me laugh... this did it. The video's a couple years old, but the best part is that the guy with the ball was playing for the University of Rochester!

Read more!

Feeling old because of R&B classics

I'm in Vegas for the weekend and last night I caught the tail end of a friend of a friend's wedding reception. By the time I got there, the bar was closed, but people were feeling the effects of the alcohol.

The DJ was still going and the wedding guests were still out on the dance floor. On came a succession of three songs that made me feel old - not because of when the songs came out, but because of who was dancing to them. The songs were Rob Base & DJ E-Z Rock's "It Takes Two" (1988), "Baby Got Back" by Sir Mix-A-Lot (1992), and Michael Jackson's "Thriller" (1983).

I was 12 when "It Takes Two" came out and 16 for "Baby Got Back." I was too young for the first song, but I remember Sir Mix-A-Lot. The people I saw dancing last night were the people that were dancing in the clubs when these songs came out. People that were in their mid to late 20s in 1988. People that are in their 40s now.

It struck me when I saw them on the floor. Songs that I consider part of my youth are also seen that way by people 15 years older than me! It really hit me when I saw three balding, gray-haired guys in their 50s doing the Thriller dance from the video. (I was 6 or 7 when the song came out, but still!)

If I were to ask my younger USC classmates if they know the song "It Takes Two," I'd probably get some blank stares. (Not so much with "Baby Got Back" or "Thriller" since they're in a nostalgia category.)

So that left me asking myself: "Which ones are in my age group? The people 15 years older that know the songs I know or those 5 years younger that have never heard of Rob Base?"

I choose to believe the younger group, if only to make me feel better. Honestly, though, I choose the younger group because the older group was listening to disco when they were 16 and I know absolutely nothing about that!

On a side note, I had a question watching the dancing last night... Why does every woman think "Baby Got Back" applies to them??? The song is about not wanting to date a girl with no ass, yet only a small percentage of the girls on the dance floor actually had one! I thought it strange that women with no butts were showing off the fact they had no butts to a song complaining about women with no butts!

It's one of the great mysteries...

Read more!

Long day redux

Since my long Saturday, I've taken a couple days to hide/work and am now coming up for some air. As you can probably guess, I wasn't overly happy with the results of Saturday.

First, the Trojans struggled against UW, winning with the help of the new clock rules in college football that gave the Huskies less time for their drive at the end of the game. This time, I was actually in the student section for the game instead of the overflow area. It was a lot of fun, even if the game wasn't too exciting for the first three quarters. It seemed as if nothing happened for the longest time. Even though both teams were scoring, there were no big plays. USC came in ranked #3 and I kept waiting for USC to do something to put UW away. They blocked a punt in the second half, but were never able to shut them down. I'm actually worried about the November schedule of Cal, Oregon, & Notre Dame...

That brings me to the low point of Saturday - the Dodger game. After fighting traffic out of USC, I ended up at a sports bar called Big Wangs. I found a couch that was mostly free up front next to their giant screen to settle in and watch the game with one eye on UT-Georgia. By the way, one thing I couldn't help but thinking was that had Tennessee held on against Floriday, it could've been the Vols climbing to #2 in the AP poll after putting up 51 points against Georgia.

Back to the Dodgers... When they cambe back from 4-0 to take a 5-4 lead, Big Wangs went nuts. High fives everywhere and a ton of cheering. It didn't take long for us to get quiet again as the few Mets fans in the place started celebrating. The Dodgers ended their season being swept by the Mets in the playoffs. I should be happy they made the playoffs, but I was hoping for more. And now I don't have any excuses for not studying...

Read more!

Long day

Well, I've got a long, busy day ahead of me... and I won't get a lick of work done. I'm up early (for a Saturday) so I can get to school by about 9:30. Here's my schedule for the day:

9:30-11:30 - Tailgate party at USC
11:30 - Head to Coliseum
12:30-4:00 - USC vs Washington
4:00 - Find a sports bar
4:30-8:00 - Dodgers vs Mets
8:00-? - Friend's party on downtown rooftop

It's going to be a long day... but I think I'll enjoy it!

Read more!

0-2

Well, I'm not going to dwell on the game. As you can guess, I'm not too happy about it. The Dodgers played some sloppy defense and ended up losing the game 4-1. Next up is Greg Maddux on Saturday at Dodger Stadium, trying to extend the season for the Dodgers.

Bold Prediction #3: I'm not going down that road again...

What I want to talk about is the actual Dodger fans. I recently got an email from Adora (who has decided to abandon the glamorous life of blogging) in which she asked, "does LA feel excited about (the playoffs)? cause, honestly, it just seems like dodger fans are passive."

I think we get a bad rap. We're not as lazy or uninterested in the Dodgers as people make us out to be. The reputation is that Dodger fans don't show up until the third inning. A lot of fans are guilty of this, but it's not completely unreasonable. LA is spread out and there is traffic everywhere. If you want to go to a game, you've got to give yourself an hour or two, depending on where you live, just to get to the game from your home. That means if you work until 5 or later, by the time you go home it's almost 6. By the time you load up the family and get to the stadium, it's 7:30 or 8. Voila, it's the third inning. Of course, the phenomenon also happens on weekends, but it's not as bad.

The second part of the reputation is that Dodger fans leave by the seventh inning. While this is also somewhat true, it's not exclusive to Dodger Stadium. Go to any stadium in the country and you will see people leave early if the game isn't too competitive. Fans everywhere want to beat traffic. At Dodger Stadium, traffic is horrible. It's located not too far from downtown and there are only two ways to get in or out of the stadium. If the stadium is full, it can take you an hour just to get out of the parking lot.

I think what also makes Dodger fans seem uninterested is the fact that it doesn't seem like there are a lot of fans in town. For example, on Saturday, September 30, I was at the Dodger game with 49,790 of my closest friends. The Dodgers were fighting for the playoffs. That same day, the Milwaukee Brewers had about 33,989 in attendance. They were long since eliminated from contention. LA has 3.9 million people, Milwaukee itself has less than 600,000 and 1.8 million in the metropolitan area. That means for the Dodgers to draw as well (per capita) as the Brewers, they would have to have between 70,000 and 200,000 people in the stadium.

So, less people go to Dodger games than Brewer games. Why? Well, a couple reasons. First, there's a lot to do in LA. Nothing against Milwaukee, but on any night of the week you can find something exciting in LA. There is plenty of nightlife, as well as shows, concerts, and amusement parks. Second, a smaller proportion of LA is actually from LA. When you've got a large amount of people from around the country who have their own team to root for or from around the world who don't really know about baseball, your eligible fan base is lower than the entire population.

But to answer Adora's question... yes, I think LA is excited about the Dodgers. It may not be as obvious as it would be in Milwaukee if the Brewers made it, but the excitement is there. Walking around USC, I've seen a significant increase in the amount of Dodger merchandise being worn. People are wearing Dodger caps and t-shirts and they appear to be doing it of their own free will.

Of course, that could all disappear by Monday... GO DODGERS!

Read more!

0-1

So I'm not exactly Karnac the Great. My prediction of a sweep was a little off. It was a bad game for the Dodgers that they lost 6-5. Derek Lowe wasn't at his best, but still was able to keep the Dodgers in the game. Brad Penny wasn't sharp. He walked two of the first three guys he saw and they scored the last two Met runs. In the ninth inning, Nomar Garciaparra was up to bat with the tying run on second. He seems to come through a lot, but not today. Instead, he chased a bad pitch and struck out to end the game.

What I haven't been able to fathom is what happened in the second inning. First and second and nobody out. Here's the official play by play from mlb.com:

Russell Martin singles on a fly ball to right fielder Shawn Green. Russell Martin to 2nd. Double play, right fielder Shawn Green to second baseman Jose Valentin to catcher Paul Lo Duca. Jeff Kent out at home. Drew out at home. Russell Martin to 2nd on the throw.

Yep, that says "double play" with both runners out at home. I was shocked to see Jeff Kent try to score from second. Imagine what I was thinking when I saw JD Drew try to score behind him. Had they played it safe, the bases would have been loaded with nobody out. Instead, there's a runner on second with two outs. The next batter doubled and only one run scored. Oops.

Apparently, JD Drew was trying to catch Paul LoDuca off guard. He thought he could sneak in from behind. He thought wrong. He should've stayed at second.

On the bright side, the Dodgers managed to rebound from a 4-1 deficit in the seventh instead of giving up. I was happy to see that. I think it bodes well for the rest of the series...

Bold prediction #2: Hong-Chih Kuo dominates tomorrow in Game 2. Greg Maddux throws 72 pitches in a Game 2 shutout. Brad Penny rebounds in Game 4. Dodgers win the series 3-1.

UPDATE: Jayson Stark at espn.com has a great article about the play and about the game.

Read more!

Playoff time!

I couldn't let the start of the NLDS series between the Dodgers and Mets go without mention.

I can't believe how much I'm looking forward to this series. Maybe I'm crazy, but I think the Dodgers have a shot of making it to the World Series. I'm imagining either a rematch of the 1988 Dodgers-A's series or another chapter in the Dodgers-Yankees saga.

First, the Dodgers have to get past the Mets. It may seem daunting to go up against the team with the best record in the league, but the Dodgers are the hottest team in the NL heading into the playoffs. It's a recipe that's worked for the Marlins twice. And if they can do it, anybody can! What makes this series extra-winnable is that the Mets have lost two of their key starting pitchers. First, Pedro needs surgery and is gone. Now, on the eve of the first game, it seems like Orlando Hernandez may not be able to pitch. If it's Tom Glavine and a bunch of random schmoes, I like our chances.

So now it looks like the Dodgers will either get John Maine, whom they beat 5-0 in September, or a recovering Hernandez.

Either way, my bold prediction: Dodgers sweep.

Read more!

I'm back...

Sorry for the extended radio silence... I was in Orlando from Wednesday through Sunday and spent the past couple days trying to catch up (to no avail) with all the work I missed.

The reason for my trip to Orlando was the 2006 Association for Consumer Research conference. Even though it may not sound that exciting, I had a great time. I got to meet some interesting people that are studying things that I want to study. I also got to see some people that I hadn't seen in a while from Rochester. And I was slightly hung over on the first day of the event. (Thanks, Aaron.)

What was cool about the whole thing was putting some faces to the names I've seen in the papers I've read. The whole Consumer Behavior community is pretty small, so they all pretty much know each other. As for me, I had only seen their names. But now, as I read the seven papers for next week's CB seminar, I actually know who they are since I either met or saw the authors of six of them. Maybe it's me being an academic nerd, but I think that's pretty cool.

I was surprised at how my own professors were regarded at the conference. I'm new to the whole research thing, so I don't know how big their contributions have been. Plus, I see them all the time, so I don't see them as superstars. But at the conference, they were treated like rock stars. Well, maybe not exactly like rock stars, but whatever the research equivalent of that is.

This February, it's off to Vegas for the Society of Consumer Psychology and next fall comes the ACR convention in Memphis. My goal is to actually present a paper (or two) in September. Wish me luck...

Read more!