Quotulatiousness

September 3, 2010

Fox reports that Sage Rosenfels has been traded to the Giants

Filed under: Football — Tags: , , , , — Nicholas @ 21:30

Fox Sports has a report up saying that the Giants have traded for Minnesota’s Sage Rosenfels:

The Giants had searched for a new backup since Jim Sorgi suffered a season-ending shoulder injury earlier in the preseason. Third-stringer Rhett Bomar, a 2009 fifth-round pick, proved incapable of handling the role when starting in place of the injured Manning (laceration).

A 10-year NFL veteran with 12 career starts, Rosenfels will provide New York with a veteran presence. Rosenfels was acquired by Minnesota via trade with Houston in 2009 and signed to a three-year, $9 million contract extension. But any chance of competing for a starting spot was derailed when Minnesota signed Brett Favre.

Rosenfels has remained mired in a third-string role in Minneapolis behind backup Tarvaris Jackson despite an outstanding preseason statistically. Rosenfels completed 60.8 percent of his passes with four touchdowns and no interceptions compared with Jackson, who posted a 46.2 completion percentage.

I’m sorry to see Sage go (I thought it would be Tarvaris Jackson who’d be leaving), but hopefully he’s got a good situation in New York. Still, that means it’s pretty much certain that the Vikings will be keeping Joe Webb on the roster, rather than trying to get him past waivers and onto the practice squad.

Update: Judd Zulgad reports that the deal included running back/returner Darius Reynaud and that the Vikings will receive draft picks in the 2011 and 2012 drafts:

Sage Rosenfels apparently was being showcased after all.

The Vikings traded the veteran quarterback and running back Darius Reynaud to the New York Giants on Friday evening for an undisclosed draft choice in the 2011 NFL Draft and a conditional draft choice in the 2012 NFL Draft. The Vikings announced the trade on their website.
The deal is contingent upon both Rosenfels and Reynaud passing physical examinations with the Giants. The trade leaves the Vikings with 73 players, meaning they must cut 20 more by 5 p.m. Saturday.

The trade ends a frustrating season-plus stint in Minnesota for Rosenfels, who arrived in a trade with Houston in February 2009 expecting to compete with Tarvaris Jackson for the starting job but ended up being the No. 3 quarterback last season behind Brett Favre and Jackson.

QotD: Another key ingredient to ever-growing bureaucracy

Filed under: Bureaucracy, Education, Government, Quotations — Nicholas @ 12:12

Bureaucrats breed more bureaucrats. A system manned by university graduates, with ever higher levels of accreditation, believes that such a type of learning is socially useful. The Mandarin believes his role to be central in society. The state will manage society, and he and his class will manage the state. Other forms of learning are useful, but inferior. Since the Mandarin also controls the state schools, he will wish to gear the whole system to the generation of more like him.

This may seem counterintuitive. Why have more competition? Why not, like the original Mandarins of Imperial China, select only the best and brightest for higher education? Because the modern Mandarin lives in a democratic society. Such obvious selectivity would be damned as elitist. Mass high school and university education has the added benefit of reinforcing the bureaucratic system. This goes beyond the crude propaganda used in the schools, which really works only on those too young to challenge it, but to the very methods being employed.

The academically uninclined, even though still intelligent, youth acquires a grudging admiration for the academically talented. He begins, and the whole system reinforces this notion, that only this type of aptitude truly matters. His own talents, which might be every bit as useful to himself and society as any other, he begins to regard as inferior. Reluctantly, sometimes bitterly, he begins to defer to the “smart kids.” He has been prepared for a society in which the academic student has become the intellectualized bureaucrat. It will be easier for him to defer to the bureaucrat, whom he regards, if only subconsciously, as his superior.

Publius, “The Education Machine”, Gods of the Copybook Headings, 2010-09-02

Why we still need technical writers

Filed under: Technology — Tags: , , , — Nicholas @ 12:02

Eric S. Raymond has been pleased with the upgrade to his “backup” Android phone, but encountered a very common problem in technology (especially in open source projects, but still too common in commercial products):

As usual in such exercises, the hard part was interpreting the instructions. The hackers who wrote them were trying very hard to be clear, but the result was a thicket of poorly-organized details. I could follow the procedure, but I had to do it almost blind; there was nothing that gave me a high-level view of the process so that I could grasp clearly why each step was necessary and why they had to happen in the order they did. As a result, for troubleshooting I absolutely had to have live help on an IRC channel.

I wish someone would write a bird’s-eye view of the smart-phone modding process. It can’t be that complicated, and I know what’s involved in writing boot loaders for general-purpose computers. Shout to my readers: has anyone done this already, or do I need to put it on my over-full to-do list?

Much of the problem is that folks who are deeply involved in the technical details are often unable to simplify-without-dummifying their knowledge. That’s not surprising, as most are nowhere near as gifted in verbal skills as they are in their own area of technical ability.

“Admitting you’re a fan of economics is another way of saying you live a deeply tragic life”

Filed under: Economics, Media — Tags: , , — Nicholas @ 09:33

David Harsanyi loves economists — at least the ones he can quote to support his articles:

[. . .] I can’t seem to get enough of economists who blog about human behavior or write wickedly counterintuitive books about how all the bad things we do are good for society.

Professionally speaking, economists are also vital. Where else are columnists going to find a Ph.D. to corroborate all the gibberish we put in our pieces?

But the most crucial lesson I’ve gleaned from smart men and women who practice the dismal science is this: Those who claim to grasp the vagaries of the economy enough to predict the future with any amount of certitude are charlatans.

Is Tarvaris Jackson on the bubble?

Filed under: Football — Tags: , , , — Nicholas @ 07:32

Jeremy Fowler seems to think so:

Jackson swears he’s playing well in practice, where coach Brad Childress says he’s seen “an evolution” in Brett Favre’s backup.

But the work simply hasn’t translated in four preseason games, fueling an already intriguing Vikings quarterback situation.

Jackson is still No. 2 ahead of Sage Rosenfels and Joe Webb, Childress said. Through four preseason games, that No. 2 spot has produced 60 yards on 12-of-26 passing, zero touchdowns and zero interceptions.

That’s 2.3 yards per completion after Thursday’s 2-of-8 passing performance for 2 yards. His two completions were screens of 4 and -2 yards to running back Albert Young.

When the athletic, electric Webb keeps inspiring the crowd with 40-plus-yard runs and improving accuracy, the juxtaposition is hard to ignore.

When asked Thursday night whether Jackson is still the No. 2, Childress said “as it stands right now.” Rosenfels, after all, might be the odd man out despite a solid preseason. The Vikings likely won’t carry four quarterbacks into the season, and Webb, a rookie out of Alabama-Birmingham, might have too much potential to throw to waivers.

With Joe Webb having an impressive preseason, there’s no chance he could slip through waivers and get signed to the practice squad. Many other teams in the conference would probably be willing to snap him up. Sage Rosenfels is under contract for another year, while Jackson and Favre both are out of contract at the end of this season. I’ve always liked Jackson, but his inconsistent play may force Brad Childress to go with Rosenfels and Webb as the second and third quarterbacks. I still doubt it, as Childress has been very loyal to Jackson through all the criticisms, but it’s a stronger possibility now than it was just a week ago.

Fowler also likes what he’s seen from Joe Webb:

Tarvaris Jackson might have played poorly, but Joe Webb took over the second half with 5-of-9 passing for 100 yards, a touchdown, an interception and 48 rushing yards.

The Vikings must cut the roster from 75 to 53 players on Saturday, and Webb says he’s still confident in his chances to stick.

The Metrodome erupted the moment Webb entered the game. Webb’s only disappointment was an interception by the sideline, but even his touchdown-saving tackle was impressive athletically.

The last time the Vikings tried to sneak a promising rookie quarterback onto their practice squad, Kansas City signed him (Tyler Thigpen). Within the first half of the season, Thigpen was starting for KC. Hopefully, Minnesota learned that lesson.

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