Ryan – Page 2 – Ryan Benbow's Blog

NCAA Conference Realignment Proposal

July 10, 2022July 10, 2022
by Ryan

For those of you who follow the NCAA, you have probably heard the recent news that USC and UCLA will be joining the Big Ten conference in 2024. This means that the Big Ten will soon have 16 teams (thus making a mockery of its name) while its member schools stretch from New Jersey all the way to California (thus making a mockery of its geography). This is only the latest development in a system that already didn’t make sense. The Big Ten, a conference initially made up of ten schools in the Midwest, already had 14 teams from New Jersey to Nebraska before this announcement. So, while the current NCAA conference alignments already didn’t make sense, this recent USC/UCLA news has now inspired me to fix things.

This is just the latest example of geographic quirks within the NCAA. Other conferences have similar oddities, such as West Virginia belonging to the 10-team Big 12 (yes, the Big 12 has 10 teams), despite being nowhere near any of the other nine schools located between Iowa and Texas. Or Louisville belonging to the ACC (Atlantic Coast Conference), despite not being close to the Atlantic Ocean. And don’t get me started on the Pioneer League, the football conference in which Butler plays San Diego, Stetson (FL), and Marist (NY). I think whoever came up with that conference either did so out of spite or failed geography in school.

I’m sure the reason some of the big schools are switching to conferences outside their own region somehow comes down to money, although I don’t know all the particulars as to why. However, regardless of all the nuances of it, I want conferences to make geographic sense. Fortunately, I have just been appointed the new Supreme Emperor of the NCAA and have been given full authority to make any changes I want. As such, I decided to realign the conferences in a way that actually makes sense. With that in mind, I would like to announce the following NCAA conference realignments, effective immediately.

*I may not have actually been appointed Supreme Emperor of the NCAA, and may not currently have the authority to implement these changes. But, for the purposes of this blog, let’s just pretend for a few minutes that I can do this.

Basketball

Greatest Pacers Games: A Top Ten List

May 14, 2022
by Ryan

As a basketball fan growing up in Indiana, I have been a fan of the NBA’s Indiana Pacers as long as I can remember. Admittedly, my level of interest over the years has varied based on how good the team has been, so I should preface this by acknowledging that I haven’t paid much attention over the past couple of years. But for a certain period of time during the 1990s and early 2000s, plus another window during part of the 2010s, the month of May became associated with exciting Pacers’ playoff runs. As the team has not been very good in recent years, I got to thinking as the calendar turned to May this year of how I missed good Pacers playoff basketball.

Back in 2020, I made a list of what I considered to be the top ten greatest games in the history of my favorite football team – the Indianapolis Colts. Inspired by that, I thought I would take a walk down memory lane and make a similar list here – a top ten list of the greatest games in the history of the Indiana Pacers. I figured that creating this list would give me an opportunity to go back and re-live some good Pacers moments from previous years, most of which came during the month of May.

Games

Wordle: 100 Day Update

May 1, 2022
by Ryan

Today marks the 100^th day since I first tried Wordle. Shortly after I started playing it, I posted some initial thoughts about it on this blog. So, if you are reading this and don’t yet know what Wordle is – first of all, where have you been all year? Secondly, you can learn more about what it is, as well as some of my initial thoughts on the game, on my original Wordle post here.

The five-letter word-solving puzzle, originally invented last year by creator Josh Wardle, has exploded in popularity ever since millions of people discovered it sometime around January. At least that’s when I first found out about it. Although there have been 316 daily Wordle puzzles in its history so far, for me personally, there have been 100. As such, I thought the 100-day mark would be a good milestone for me to share some updates and additional thoughts on Wordle (with the understanding that I don’t promise to do this every 100 days). I will also share some additional Wordle parodies that I have played, with some thoughts on those as well.

Basketball

2022 March Madness Recap

April 10, 2022
by Ryan

With the 2022 NCAA March Madness basketball tournament having concluded this past week, I thought I would take this opportunity to share some thoughts about the tournament and lessons I have learned on how to pick the winners going forward. As I previously shared during last year’s tournament, I fill out a bracket each year with my friend Brian, in which we pick the winners based entirely on who would win a fight between the team’s mascots. (For example, who would win a fight between a wildcat and a peacock?) This bracket never actually does well, and this year was no exception. The rules for how we fill out our bracket can be found on my previous March Madness post from last year.

Before I go any further, I also want to present a riddle for you to figure out. This is a problem that I used to give my math students back in my teaching days, called the “Big Loser.” I’ll present the problem here and then give you the solution at the end of this post, as a reward for actually reading the whole thing (or for at least taking the time to skip down to the end). We know by now that Kansas won this year’s NCAA men’s basketball tournament. But who was the “big loser” of the tournament? For the purpose of this problem, we ignore the extra four teams from the official 68-team field, as we are not counting the four teams that lost in the “play-in” rounds. (This was so much better back when the tournament was a perfect 64-team field.) So, out of the final 64 teams, who was the big loser? It’s one thing to be Texas Southern, lose to Kansas in the first round, and then watch them win the championship. They can at least say, “We lost in the first round, but the team that beat us won the whole thing, so there’s no shame in that.” But which team lost in the first round, only for the team that beat them to lose their very next game, to a team who would then lose their next game, and so on, for each round of the tournament? Only one team has that claim to shame each year. So, who was it? Take a moment to figure it out, then keep reading, then I will give the answer at the end.

Football

2021 NFL Season Predictions: Results

February 19, 2022February 20, 2022
by Ryan

Back in September, shortly before the start of this past NFL season, I posted my predictions for how well my favorite team, the Indianapolis Colts, would do this year. This included my predictions for the result of every single game they would play during the season. In addition, I also made predictions on how every NFL team would do this year. This included my picks for every team’s overall record, which teams would make the playoffs, who would play in the Super Bowl, and who would win it. You can find these predictions here. At that time, I decided that no matter how accurate (or inaccurate) this turned out to be, I would most likely re-visit my picks once the season was over and see how they compared to the actual results. At least as long as my picks weren’t way off. Since the Super Bowl was this past week and the 2021 NFL season is now officially over, and since my pre-season predictions don’t make me look like a total moron, let’s go ahead and re-visit my picks that I made back on September 4^th and see how I did.

Games

Wordle

February 5, 2022February 5, 2022
by Ryan

It’s been a month since I have posted on this blog. If you’ve been clamoring for new content on a regular basis and wondering why it’s taken me so long…maybe it’s because I discovered Wordle.

Since Wordle has exploded in popularity over the past month, it’s probably common knowledge by now what it is. But just in case you haven’t found out about it yet (or you’ve seen it but haven’t taken the time to investigate it yet, or you’re still stubbornly holding out), I’ll give you the scoop here. I’ll also provide some information on some other puzzles you can try as well.

Better Than Facebook

The Best of Dilbert

January 1, 2022
by Ryan

With the New Year now upon us, I got to open up my new 2022 Dilbert day-by-day calendar that I recently got for Christmas. I have actually had a Dilbert day-by-day calendar each year for the past several years. Over this time, I have saved some of the best ones to put on my refrigerator. Of course, I only have so much room on my refrigerator, so there is a continual evaluation process of which new hilarious comics to put on there, and which ones finally have to be taken off. Today, I would like to share with you some of the best Dilbert comics I have read from my calendar over the years, many of which I have saved on my refrigerator.

Better Than Facebook

Christmas Quiz

December 18, 2021
by Ryan

With Christmas right around the corner, I thought I would put together a short 10-question Christmas quiz and post it on here. Feel free to take this and test your knowledge of Christmas. I am including the answers at the end, so you can grade yourself and see how well you did. Each question is multiple choice. Some questions indicate that there is more than one answer. For those questions, in order to get it correct, please select all possible correct answers without selecting an incorrect answer. No partial credit – although of course I have no way to enforce that, as you are on the honor system while you grade your own quiz.

One other thing about this quiz. The celebration of Christmas has evolved in our culture over the years to include Santa Claus, presents, giving, spending time with family, vacations, Christmas-themed decorations/movies/music, etc., and sometimes white Christmases with the perfect amount of snow on the ground. It’s the most wonderful time of the year. But while certain extra elements of this can be fun and special in their own right, I made this quiz specific to the true meaning of Christmas – the birth of Christ.

Let’s see how well you do…

Top Ten Lists

Thanksgiving Episodes: A Top Ten List

November 22, 2021November 22, 2021
by Ryan

It’s been a while since I’ve done a top ten list on this blog. As we approach Thanksgiving this week, I thought this would be a good opportunity to share my ten favorite things to watch on (or in the days leading up to) Thanksgiving.

Before I share my list, I would be remiss if I didn’t pause to reflect on the importance of this holiday. Obviously, being thankful for our blessings and provisions is more important than what to watch. Going through a pandemic over the past couple years makes me (and I’m sure everyone else) appreciative of good health. It may be easy to take for granted things like food and shelter, as well as family and friends. But, even in difficulties, it’s important that we take some time to reflect on what we have to be thankful for.

With that said, while I recognize that what to watch on Thanksgiving is on the less important side of things, I usually dedicate this blog to topics that are not quite as serious. Last year, I shared my top ten favorite Christmas movies on here. And while Thanksgiving movies don’t really exist to my knowledge, I thought I would make a similar list for Thanksgiving.

Baseball

22 Ways to Fix Baseball

October 31, 2021November 2, 2021
by Ryan

Some people know me as a bit of a baseball fan. Really, I’m a fan of whichever sport happens to be in season between baseball, basketball, and football. But yes, baseball is one of the sports I follow closely. For evidence of this, you can read about my baseball vacation from this summer, in which I traveled the Midwest attending seven Major League Baseball games in six different ballparks in one week. This past week, I have watched the World Series between the Atlanta Braves and Houston ~~Cheaters~~…Astros, which just ended with the Braves winning, 4 games to 2. Congratulations to the Atlanta Braves!

As much as I like baseball, there are some things about the sport that I would like to see changed to make it even better. Fortunately, I have just been appointed the new Supreme Emperor of Major League Baseball. This allows me the ability to change anything I want about baseball without needing permission from the owners, players, or TV networks. As such, I would like to announce several changes to the sport, starting next year.*

*I may not have actually been appointed Supreme Emperor of Major League Baseball, and may not currently have the authority to implement these changes. Let’s just pretend that I do, though.

Before I announce these changes, I want to put in a plug for Taco Bell’s “Steal a Base, Steal a Taco” promotion and let you know that you can get a free taco on November 4. Every year when this promotion has been in place, if a stolen base occurs during the World Series, everyone in America can get a free taco at participating Taco Bell locations on a particular date. I even wrote about my experiences with this promotion last year as well. This year, the Braves’ Ozzie Albies became the 2021 Taco Hero by stealing a base in Game 1, so feel free to get yourself a free taco from a participating Taco Bell location on November 4.

Author: <span>Ryan</span>