“No, It’s Not Your Opinion. You’re Just Wrong”

July 24, 2015

imageThis is gospel.  I have heard this uttered by so many of our fresh-out-of-college hires, it’s headshaking.  It’s like it became en vogue for self-important, arrogant MBA-types to pull this “It’s my opinion…” line out when they can’t defend their opinion with fact: Only “the way they feel”.

Hey kids:  Facts matter.  Misaligned conjecture doesn’t.

I have had so many conversations or email exchanges with students in the last few years wherein I anger them by indicating that simply saying, “This is my opinion” does not preclude a connected statement from being dead wrong. It still baffles me that some feel those four words somehow give them carte blanche to spout batshit oratory or prose. And it really scares me that some of those students think education that challenges their ideas is equivalent to an attack on their beliefs.

-Mick Cullen

Read the whole article here:


On Combs & Alosi

July 6, 2015

Saw this on a board.  Posted to share with some specific folks.  Please ignore otherwise.

“Both seem to be pretty good people, but not sensitive to the other’s perspective. First off, Daddy Diddy should be the subject of discussion. He went crazy over a small issue his son could have easily absorbed or dealt with.

But the reports are now that Alosi was very hard on Combs and there were two tipping points. He went to the NBA All-Star game with his dad instead of attending a voluntary workout (that others missed.) When he returned, Alosi had a screen shot of him at he game in good seats with his dad and made him work out with others who missed practice while the rest watched and were encouraged to hiss and boo. The screen shot was projected onto a screen or TV during this incident. He called out Combs by calling him worthless, and said he was only there because of his rich daddy and why doesn’t he just quit.

The other tipping point was similar where the day of or before the assault, Alosi went off on Combs in a similar manner and Combs finally said something, which got him kicked out of practice.

I think Alosi was likely trying to motivate Combs, but did so in the exact wrong way. Where he assumed he needed motivation to work, what he really needed was to be treated normally and fit in aside from his father.

I think Combs disregarded the tough love as hate and his Dad went psycho without having a chance to settle down.

The only part where Alosi really looks bad is if he was actually riding him to the point where Alosi clearly wanted him to quit. If he cannot stand people because they are successful, then that is a strange form of reverse discrimination. It reminds me in a sense of how everyone loves for a high first round pick to fail so they can call him a bust, but a seventh rounder everyone roots for.

re: Voluntary Workouts… I heard was that some guys work out on their own and the lesser guys are thrown into this camp. These are called optional in part because there are groups of players who do their own regiment, usually prescribed, but not attended to, by Alosi. The guys who are not the best players are thrown into a big pile and this is that pile. It is like they are the lowest ranks of the military and the others are officers.

They are also optional because the NCAA sets limits on mandatory workouts. Some players study, while others do not. Some guys have tutors for certain classes, others do not.”