BASEBALL, FOOTBALL

USC Morning Buzz: Football Makes Hire; A National Honor For Baseball

USC generated a lot of publicity Wednesday for hiring a Director of AI.

I’m just not sure why. The “first-of-its-kind position” in the sport will build AI models to identify competitive advantages in everything from game planning to scouting.

There are other programs doing this too but they just don’t call the person doing it “Director of AI.”

As someone told me yesterday, “if it’s such an important position, why did they hire from within? Why didn’t they go outside and hire someone?”

Naturally, Chad “Charmin” Bowden made the hire, not Lincoln Riley.

  • USC pitcher Mason Edwards was named college baseball Pitcher of the Year by Baseball America. Edwards led the country with 169 strikeouts in 95.2 innings.
  • Game 3 between USC and North Carolina on Sunday was the most watched Super Regional game on record, according to numbers released by ESPN. Approximately 1.3 million viewers tuned in to the contest and the game peaked at 1.7 million viewers.

43 thoughts on “USC Morning Buzz: Football Makes Hire; A National Honor For Baseball”

      1. Ever since the movie “2001” and the robotic HAL governing the affairs of the spacecraft, there has been concern about how much influence AIs will have

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      2. Ever since the movie “2001” and the robotic HAL governing the affairs of the spacecraft, there has been concern about how much influence AIs will have

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    2. KAM: THE JUDGE ELEANOR ROSS S- X-AND-JUDICIAL-OPINIONS SCANDAL HAS BROKEN INTO THE NYT: “For years, Judge Eleanor Ross’s secret was passed down from law clerk to law clerk. They whispered about the sultry jazz music that emanated from her chambers when a uniformed police commander, a man they called her “visitor,” disappeared into her private office. The clerks could sometimes hear the unmistakable sounds of s – x from behind the door. They chalked it up as one of the burdens of working for Judge Ross, who routinely rubber stamped their draft orders and added little else before issuing them as rulings. But the clerks in the Atlanta courthouse felt helpless: Do you report your married boss, a federal judge no less, for having a clandestine in-office affair with a law enforcement officer?”

      DON: Did you board barristers encounter any judges like this?

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  3. At some point in the near future, AI will take over the USC directorship of AI. Then, AI will create a virtual Lincoln Riley to replace the old Lincoln Riley and everyone will wonder how he became more effective, though a bit more robotic.

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      3. KAM: C on s e r v a t i v e s loathed O b a m a like Cowardly Gabby D e m o c r a t s loath T r u m p. Except they loathed O b a m a because he loathed America.

        DON: D e m o c r a t s loathe me because they loathe America.

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    1. KAM: Too bad he wasn’t there when we needed him.

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      Mason Edwards did not pitch in the final playoff game because he was reportedly not available for that game, as stated by USC’s coach Andy Stankiewicz. There are speculations that this decision may have been influenced by concerns over protecting Edwards’ draft status.

      DON: College World Series ring > Pitcher of the Year Award.

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      1. KAM: Charlie Bucket hates it when she gets outed.

        DON: Hence the thousands of aliases and impersonations and writing all is caps to try to make her opinion more valid than the rantings of a lunatic.

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  8. Good to know that actual human beings need to be hired to direct AI. Just because AI can help with game planning, the game is still won or lost on the field. Just like the statistical analysis in baseball can tell a player what pitch to throw and where to play the defense against each batter, etc., the human being still needs to make the play unless we get to the time when robots play the game and take all of the suspense out of playing the game.

    Congratulations to Mason Edwards, but I would still like to know why he didn’t pitch the last inning of the third game. Johnson came back and pitched on just a day or two of rest, and he pitched more innings in the super regional and the regional. Do NIL contracts include pitching limits? Mason Edwards, if he had pitched and USC won the game, would have been the Yamamoto of USC baseball. Fight on, Dan, Class of 1962

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    1. Small Print in Mason’s NIL Contract: “Hey, USC football stars can opt outta bowl games…”

      #Yes…CuzUSC’sRecentBowlGamesHaveBeenMeaningless..

      #..Game3OfTheSuperRegionalWasn’t….

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      1. MG, thanks as always, for sharing your knowledge. We definitely do not know what is in the NIL contracts or even in the recruitment signings. The irony regarding pitchers is that almost every high power pitcher has some kind of surgery either in high school or college or in their first few years of professional pitching. It’s almost like the right of passage similar to teenagers getting braces. We don’t know Mason Edward’s health history; so, I don’t want to judge him, but if he is healthy, one inning would not ruin his arm. He could do what Sandy Koufax did while he was pitching over 300 innings a year, soak it in ice water after the game. Fight on, Dan, Class of 1962

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      2. Which is exactly why there was …and never will be…. another Sandy Koufax….

        #MeghanMarkleProbablyShouldn’tHaveTakenHisSeatAtGame

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  10. So AI analyzes the opponents offensive game film over the past 3 years. The opponent has the same head coach and offensive coordinator. AI predicts what the opponent will likely run on 4th and 2 from the fifty yard line. I can see some benefit in AI under the circumstances but I don’t really trust it. Team strengths and weaknesses are constantly changing. So are the defensive formations. What worked last week against a poor run defense may not work the next week.

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    1. AI will KNOW what will work next year too…. and the year after that… and so on in perpetuity…. it will have imagination…and moral sense…. it will ….ha ha… I can’t go on… it’s too easy…ha ha….

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      1. I don’t. There are serious problems ahead. By the time we recognize them it’ll be too late.

        #CERNIsAGoodExample –ScienceW/ORulesOrRegulations

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