Favoring the Underdog

It always happens.  Every year.  In the NCAA Tournament, there is always at least one school we've never heard of that shocks the world by beating a perennial powerhouse.  Dayton, Florida Gulf Coast, Lehigh, Norfolk State, Wichita State, and VCU are recent cinderella stories that come to mind.  And year in and year, out everyone is rooting for these schools that they couldn't even point out on a map.

I find it fascinating that there really seems to be no other feelings towards these teams besides people rooting for them.  I feel like there's a counter-argument to almost everything else, yet there seems to be unanimous support for these underdogs.  Maybe someone could say that they'd rather have the better team advance, or that a program with an established culture of winning deserves to go farther in the tournament than an irrelevant team that got lucky one night.  But I never hear these arguments, which begs the question:  Why are we so obsessed with the underdog?

I believe that it's simply the American way to cheer for the underdog.  It begins with our roots as a country in which we started as colonies ruled by Great Britain, eventually fighting our way against the world's most powerful nation and gaining our independence.  We're the country that people from across the world immigrate to in search of a new life and a place in which one could find success if they are willing to work.

Why do you think we as a society love the underdog?  Do you love the underdog?

Follow Up to "3D Printing: More Than a Toy"

Back in January, I had posted on the new and innovative technology of 3D printing.  I had discussed  how 3D printing was becoming much more than a novelty, and had the chance to truly change the landscape of many industries.  Since then, I had not come across any new advancements or news in the 3D printing world, until I came across this incredible article today.

Mick Ebeling tells the story of how he heard of a Sudanese boy named Daniel had his arms detached from his body during the Sudanese government's bombing raids.  That night, he couldn't go to sleep without trying to help out.  He knew he wouldn't be able to help all of the kids who had limbs blown off in the explosions, but he knew he had to try to help Daniel.

Ebeling surrounded himself with the smartest people he could, and they came up with the idea of bringing a 3D printer to Sudan to print the prosthetic arms there, while teaching people in Sudan how to use the printer so they could continue to help more people.

In case you aren't familiar with 3D printers, they mostly operate just as regular printers do.  They are connected to computers, and they print files from the computer.  But, 3D printers are able to print three-dimensional objects right in front of you.  So in this case, the proper materials had to be loaded into the printer, and computer-designed 3D parts of the prosthetic arms were printed on the spot.

In the end, the prosthetic arm worked for Daniel, and will end up helping countless other children who have unfortunately lost their limbs.  It is incredible how the 3D printer is being utilized now even though it has not existed for very long.  Stories like this can only leave us wondering what 3D printers will be doing next.

What other uses do you think 3D printers could have?  Do you see the use of 3D printers growing even more?

Middlebury vs Middlebury

Upon checking into a quaint inn in Middlebury, Vermont, the man behind the front desk looked me up and down and immediately said, "Here's a pamphlet on the College, enjoy your stay" in a cold, rehearsed voice.  I hadn't mentioned a thing to him about the college.  It was as if he was disdainful about how the only reason he thought I would ever consider setting foot in his small town would be to visit the local college; which was actually exactly why I was there.

Later that night at the conclusion of dinner at the inn, the extremely welcoming and kind waitress told us that she hoped we would enjoy seeing Middlebury College tomorrow in almost an identical tone as the man behind the front desk.  Again, we made no mention of Middlebury to her whatsoever.  At this point I knew there had to be something more between the people of Middlebury and the students at Middlebury College.

As soon as a began to look into the topic, I came across a documentary made by local students at the high school about this exact relationship.  The tone of the video is set immediately by a high schooler saying that if he was in a car driving through the campus, he would hit the next Middlebury College student that crossed the street without looking.

One of the issues between the students of Middlebury College and the residents of Middlebury, VT is that there is an enormous financial gap between them.  In terms of the college itself and the town itself, a few examples were given in the video of major town projects having to be majorly funded by the college because the college has more many the town itself.  This is not different on the person to person level either.  In Middlebury, the median household income is $48,487, while the total annual cost for one student to go to Middlebury College is just under $60,000.  This immense financial gap seems to create a lot of tension and resentment from the less wealthy people of Middlebury to the more wealthy students at the college.  In my brief experience, the students at the college have almost the opposite feelings about the residents of the town.  One student described the people of the town as "sweethearts" and said that "The people here make it the most wholesome and friendly place I've ever been."

I think this relationship is particularly interesting because I see it as a sort of microcosm of the larger financial gap throughout the United States.  The large gap between the middle class and the "1%" is a continuous struggle in this country that has not seen any progress in being resolved.

I believe that the best solution in both the smaller case of Middlebury as well as the larger case of the United States is that the people need to settle there differences and work to get along.  There isn't a whole lot either side can do to help decrease the financial gap, but I don't think that's what necessarily needs to happen anyways.  People should be able to get along despite financial or any other differences.  The town of Middlebury offers as much to the college in certain ways as the college does to the town in other ways.  Even though the issue of financial differences isn't going away any time soon, hopefully the attitudes of the town of Middlebury and Middlebury College as well as the attitudes of the middle class and "1%" does change soon.

Do you think the feelings of resentment are justified?  What would you do to solve the problem?

Abusive Coaching

Startling news came out of Boston University's athletic department this weekend.  According to a recent report, the head women's basketball coach at Boston University, Kelly Greenberg, is under investigation for bullying her players.

Greenberg reportedly bullied four players to the point that they all abruptly quit the team this year. Greenberg reportedly called one player "selfish" for not playing through a concussion, and causing another player to be checked into a hospital for being suicidal.

This scenario sounds all too similar to what happened with the former Rutgers head coach Mike Rice last season.  Mike Rice was fired shortly after hours of practice videos were released showing Rice throwing balls at players, shoving them, and using very offensive language while yelling at his players.

I think these occurences are becoming more common because of the increased power that universities give their athletica departments, and because of how much control college sports teams have over their players.  For these girls, quitting the team results in a loss of their scholarship. So for the girls who have not left the school, they will now have to pay around $60,000 a year, which will be extremely difficult because they were most likely not accounting for paying for school in hteir finances because they were on scholarship.  This ends up making the student-athletes prafctically tied-down to playing for these teams, no matter how bad the sitaution is, because they need the scholarship money to pay for school.

Something needs to change in the world of college athletics.  Even though Mike Rice was fired, and it would appear that Kelly Greenberg will be fired, those players can't get the time back that they lost while being miserable attending school.  There needs to be some sort of student-athlete union that could investigate these issues and gain retributions for these players, such as possibly having Boston University keep the girls on scholarship if they remain at the school.  Sports should be an enriching part of a student's time at school, not something that makes them want to leave the school.

What do you think of these reoccurring instances?  How do you think we can change this culture in college sports?

I Pledge Allegiance to the Brand...

Apple electronics, Nike shoes; well, Nike for just about anything sports-related, Crest toothpaste, North Face winter clothing, and the list goes on and on.  These are the brands I repeatedly buy from over and over again.  But why?  I couldn't use any facts or statistics that make Nike shoes better than Adidas shoes, yet whenever I'm buying new shoes I wouldn't even consider leaving Nike.com.  Or when I'm at Walgreens I always grab the Crest toothpaste without hesitation.  Does it more effectively clean my teeth than what Colgate makes? I have no idea, I've just always used Crest.  Is there any significant difference between the toothpastes? Probably not, yet I'm always sure I'm grabbing the tube of Crest instead of all the others.

I think there are many things that factor into brand loyalty, with one reason being easiness.  There's no denying that buying products is much easier if you can narrow everything down to only looking at the products your specific brand produces, which ties into the apparent increase of a lazy culture in America. 

I believe that brands try to gain loyalty by creating a battle with their rival.  Nothing conjures up more polarized and strong opinions than a declared war.  I'm sure everyone remembers the old Mac vs PC ads, and it's hard to think of a more polarized brand battle than the hardcore Mac vs PC people.  I think the idea that someone gets to join a group of people while facing an opposing group makes the brand loyalty stronger for them because of the classic mob mentality.

What are some of your brand loyalties?  How did you develop them?  How do you think people develop their brand loyalties?  How do you think companies encourage brand loyalty?