A Round of Shots

I’m currently at the Big East tournament, and it really is all it’s cracked up to be. There’s something great about having a bunch of competitive teams who all know each other and have played each other together in one place (especially when that one place is Madison Square Garden). Wouldn’t it be great if other sports could do the same? Forget home field advantage — let’s have the MLB playoffs all at one stadium. Or even better, make the college football post-season an eight-team playoff and have one site host it. As unrealistic as it is, events like the Big East tournament and the College World Series always live up to expectations, so why not utilize that format more often?

Eric Prister, Co-Editor-in-Chief

It’s Thursday morning, and you get to work and wake up your laptop. A tweet from the LA Times catches your eye: Are Tim Tebow and Taylor Swift dating? You read the post (they shared a meal, along with their agents, apparently), email your friends, ask your co-workers. Opinions fly. She could do better. He could do better. They’re both very wholesome. They seem genuine. The conversation continues over lunch. Isn’t she Catholic? How would that work? You spend some time that afternoon trying to ascertain Taylor Swift’s religious preference. No dice. Who’s cuter, Tim Tebow or a kitten? That tumblr doesn’t exist yet. Will this affect the QB’s performance, a la Tony Romo? Could his performance actually get any worse? What rhymes with Tebow? Your Thursday was really productive. You spend the weekend contemplating the love lives of two twentysomethings who are not you. Then Monday comes around, and you find out it was all a lie. None of your questions will ever be answered.

That’s probably for the best.

Laura Myers, Columnist

A great lesson in game theory, the two-month Jim Irsay-Peyton Manning détente demonstrated how tough it can be to act in one’s own rational self-interest. A Colts investment in Mr. Manning, specifically in the tutelage of his protégé Andrew Luck over the next two to three seasons, would put Mr. Luck in the best position to lead when his predecessor retires. Despite a handful of exceptions, starting a rookie NFL quarterback almost always ends in regret, and because Mr. Irsay denied Mr. Manning a $28 million bonus this week he may have lost 10-15 years in added quarterback security. Conversely, in the sunset of his career, Mr. Manning needs to play for a team with tools in place to win now, and that place is not Indianapolis. His love of the Colts organization does not jive with his shortened professional time-horizon, and Mr. Irsay’s shortsighted decision, an ostensible long-term move, will benefit Mr. Manning’s career. Rationality dictates that Peyton Manning should have stayed in Indy and lobbied to leave from day one, but game theory does not account for the impact of emotion on such decisions.

Colin Rich, Managing Editor

The best show you’re not watching is returning this Thursday and they’ve released a two minute trailer to stir up some buzz. Thanks in no small part to 30 Rock‘s struggling ratings, Community is getting another shot after being put on hiatus two long, cold months ago. The trailer serves as a decent introduction if you’ve never watched the show (although spending all weekend binging on the first two and a half seasons would be better), so hopefully it can manage to attract some new fans. If nothing else, you can wonder how Dean Pelton, as wonderfully played by Jim Rash, managed to win an Oscar.

Nick Anderson, Co-Editor-in-Chief

Fox’s freshman time-traveling drama has gone the way of the dinosaurs — the network announced this week that the Steven Spielberg-produced Terra Nova will not be returning for a second season on Fox. The series follows the premise that Earth is so decrepit by 2149 that the government has arranged to send colonies to pre-historic Earth to create a new society and hopefully solve the problems of the future.

While the show received decent ratings throughout its initial 11-episode run last fall, it was an expensive show to produce and needed a blockbuster audience to recoup its costs. Even with Spielberg’s name attached, Terra Nova never hit its stride and after a long period of consideration, Fox has officially announced the end of the series on network television.

Terra Nova was really just an okay show — the premise was unique and the show provided compelling stories every week. While it lacked the flair of a show like Lost, whose magic it was clearly trying to recapture, the show had merits. Most importantly, it was just fun. It was like nothing else on TV and made for good family TV time. There also seemed to be some hope as the series continued that it would find its groove eventually — and then, it would be great. Its premature cancellation is real disappointment.

There is a light at the end of the tunnel, though — while Fox is done with the dinosaur show, it is currently shopping the series around to other channels, including Netflix, that might be able to better handle the costs. Personally, I’d still like to see what the show has in it.

Maija Gustin, Columnist