Josh Benner

Author: the Josh Benner Blog

  • Ohio State vs. Michigan

    Today is a holiday for every Ohio State fan. The day of the Ohio State – Michigan football game. I am very excited to be going to the game in Ohio Stadium this afternoon. I have had the good fortune to go to this game on two other occasions.

    I’ve had an interesting discussion with a couple of other people this week about the state of today’s game and whether you would like to see Ohio State win by 3 or 30. While I think the natural inclination is to say 30, I would rather have a competitive, close fought game for a number of reasons.

    1. It’s more fun to watch. I was in attendance during the 2008 route where Ohio State beat Michigan 42-7. I grew up during the John Cooper era where wins against Michigan were rare. The ’08 game was surreal, because seeing Ohio State belittle Michigan the way in which they did was honestly something I thought I would never witness. Once in a blue moon, it can be fun. 2008 domination and the 1968 50-14 route where Woody Hayes famously went for two because he couldn’t go for three are good – once in a generation – type beatings.

    But in general, I feel like you should want a good game. In general, would you rather watch a 42-7 game or, say, a 27-21 game that’s close?

    2. It’s bad for the rivalry. Ohio State and Michigan is not considered the best rivalry in college football (best in all of sports according to some people) for games in which one team dominates the other.

    If Ohio State crushes Michigan this afternoon, seeing a good team beat up a bad team does nothing to advance the rivalry.

    Don’t get me wrong. I’m not saying that I want to see Ohio State lose. I just want to see them win a close game.

    I know that some Ohio State fans like to root against Michigan just because it’s Michigan, but if you appreciate this rivalry, and know anything about football, you should want Michigan to be good.

    2006 was a prime example. Both teams went into that game undefeated, ranked 1 & 2. By halftime, it was clear that Troy Smith had wrapped up winning the Heisman trophy and the Bucks won 42-38. Now that’s a game! Would you take a five or six touchdown shellacking of Michigan over that?

    Michigan has had a three year stretch that is as bad a three years as they have had in the history of their program. Their defense has shown an ability to stop advancing offensive assaults about as affectively as the Maginot Line.

    This is bad for the rivalry.

    My hope for this game is that even though this isn’t a very good Michigan team, I hope that they can salvadge some of the tradition by playing a good game.

    I’m not saying I want Ohio State to play bad. I’m saying I want Michigan to play better than they have all season.

    O…H…

    jrb

  • If I get one more “Happy Thanksgiving” text…

    If you have sent me a happy Thanksgiving text, thank you for thinking of me. I appreciate the thought. I, however will not be sending one. I feel like this is a phenomenon that has been occurring on Thanksgiving, Christmas, and other major holidays over the past couple of years. An SMS is quick, it’s simple, it’s passive, it reaches out, it’s perfect right?

    I feel like the practice has become increasingly cliche. Again, I’m not trying to step on toes. I have received several texts today, and I feel like it has a snowball affect. A few friends send you happy Thanksgiving texts, then you feel obligated to so you have to go through the couple of hundred contacts in your phone: add. add. add. no. add. add. definately not. add. add. (new text message) add. add. add. “Why is she still in my phone? Delete!” add. add. lanline. add…..

    So you end up sending a fairly generic texts to several dozen of your closets contacts.

    I recieved one earlier this afternoon that was forwarded. Seriously? “fwd: happy Thanksgiving. Hope you have a great day.” You’ve taken something that is already completely impersonal and kicked it up a notch.

    I used to send a text message to my friends for Christmas. And for very close friends, I still think sending a text can be appropriate. Just not to everyone with whom you have an obsucre connection.

    The reason why I still think it can be appropriate for close friends, is that if it’s a major holiday, your busy, your friends are busy, there isn’t necessarily the opportunity to place a phone call to wish the person a happy holiday, but they’re a good friend, and you still want to reach out. So what do you do? Write on the Facebook wall or send them a text.

    With all of that said, I’m thankful for a number of things this year. Thankful for my family, amazing friends, good health, and opportunities. I’ve done a lot of thinking over the past couple of years about where I want to go and what I want to accomplish, and I feel like everything is so clear. I know where I want to be in a month, 3 months, 6 months, a year, 2 years, 5 years. I’m excited to see where things will be next Thanksgiving vs where they are now. For that, I am thankful.

    Happy Thanksgiving to you.

    jrb

  • Memory Lane

    Tuesday night, one of my college fraternity brothers was elected president on the Bowling Green Interfraternity Council. I had known for sometime that he had aspirations of running for president of IFC, nevertheless it was a surreal moment when it became official. I found myself thinking ”It wasn’t that long ago that I was working on helping to recruit him into Phi Delt.”

    Now he’s going to have the highest position in the BG fraternity world.

    I was at a function in Bowling Green last month with some former presidents of other large organizations on campus. I was talking with a small group of former presidents of the Interfraternity Council when one of the guys posed the question to the group as to what accomplishment we were most proud during our term. I thought about it for a moment. To me it was interesting because if someone had asked me that question when I was an undergraduate, I would have had a list of things in which I took pride, but on that Saturday a month ago – in Bowling Green – almost two years removed from college, the most meaningful thing that came to my mind was the way in which I’ve seen all of the student leaders at BG who are younger than me and who followed after me grow up and use the entire college experience as a learning opportunity. I am biased, and especially take pride in seeing how people who have been involved with IFC have grown and succeeded on campus. I feel that seeing people who have used their involvement to propel them into later success affirms my philosophy pertaining to the value of significant involvement for college undergrads.

    I also feel like it is another reassurance that I am well suited to work in student affairs.

    I would like to wish my fraternity brother the best of luck as he leads BG’s Interfraternity Council over this next year, and may it be the valuable and life changing experience for him that it was for me.

    jrb

  • The beginning

    Ok, there have been umpteen times in my life where I have vowed to start regularly updating a journal, or a diary, or a web journal, or a blog. I feel like the first entry is always an introduction to the fact that I am trying to “stick to it this time.”

    I am not going to place the expectation on myself that I am going to update this personal blog on a daily basis, but I would like to have a web platform that is completely open and where I can talk about what I am doing at the moment in more than 140 characters (ya know I love you Twitter).

    I think that this could serve valuable purposes in the future.

    Just wanted to establish some foundation for what I am doing. This part of my website is focused more around anecdotes of what I’m doing and opinions I may have on things not related to social media (although possibly sometimes related to social media).

    If you’re reading this and think, “Why do I care?” My immediate response would be, “Then why are you reading this to begin with?!” If a person doesn’t care about content in my personal blog, then I would give this advice: don’t read my personal blog.

    jrb 11/10/10 (which is 58 in binary)

  • Geolocations: the Future of Social Networking

    (note: this is the first in a series of commentaries on social networking and geolocation technology)

    Since the summer, Facebok and Twitter have both been announcing changes to get more involved in the geolocatoin tracking game. Today, Facebook mace several announcements pertaining to Places, the site’s location platform. Along with Google, all of these sites are pushing location updates more and more. The reasons are numerous, but many are uneasy about the idea of updating a GPS location online for all to see.

    Is it safe?

    To some, the answer seems like an obvious no, and for many others, there is an inherent uneasiness with the changes that are being made.

    One thing is certain. There will be people who utilize geolocations for illegal and immoral purposes. To think anything else would be naieve. People have already used social networking site like Facebook and Twitter to commit crimes.

    If a person updates their location, for instance that they are eating at a specific restaurant, the update is making one thing clear: If they are at a restaurant, then they are NOT at home. So can it be dangerous? Yes, but it can also be dangerous to have a job where you work the same hours everyday, and are predictably away from home at the same times everyday.

    We shouldn’t live our lives in fear. People may use social networking sites for illegal purposes, but it’s not the fault of the site when they do it. It’s the fault of the criminal. Eliminating geolocation technology would not ensure a crime wouldn’t happen. It would simply mitigate a resource that a potential criminal would have. Anyone who has enough determination to do something illegal is going to commit the illegal action, regardless of resources.

    I see numerous status updates of friends on Facebook and Twitter everyday that say things like “going to (insert name) mall,” or “grabbing coffee at…” If an individual says where they are in a status, then how is that any different than showing where they are?

    Geolocation tracking is the future. I think there is value in embracing technology and where the world is going. Last month, Facebook reached over 200 million worldwide users who use the site through mobile phones, triple where they were a year ago according to the Facebook blog. In two years, smart phones will be as ubiquitous in America as regular cell phones are today.

    We will be a nation of people with our own personal GPS devices. I see value in embracing where social networking is going, instead of cowering in fear and trying to remain cocooned from the world. I don’t understand the point of social networking if you’re trying to be fearful of a world where information is public.

    Don’t get me wrong. I believe that people should ALWAYS have the right to determine what they post and what they make public. I also advocate for smart social networking. I don’t think updating a geoloco status from your home or a friend’s home is a good idea. Nor would I think it is a good idea to tag your location without thinking about what you’re doing: i.e. don’t Tweet, “Walking down that same dark alley that I always walk down alone at this exact same time on Wednesday nights with an unlocked briefcase full of money.”

    I digress. And I realize no one would ever Tweet that. (You couldn’t, it was longer than 140 characters).

    Considering as much emphasis that all of the major social networking sites are placing, as well as the increasing number of networking sites specifically created for mobile phones, it’s clear that Silicon Valley expects geolocation to be big. There will be bumps in the road at times, but I think there is a lot of good that can also come from this expanding technology.

    For people who are concerned, I can’t fault you for being uneasy about geoloco. But I believe that if you look into the technology, there are ways to do it safely.

    jrb 11/3/10