Mon, 26 May 2008 08:57:34 PM -0500 http://www.controlscaddy.com/A55A69/bccaddyblog.nsf http://www.controlscaddy.com http://www.controlscaddy.com/A55A69/bccaddyblog.nsf/2/CBYE-635UUQ/$FILE/caddybanner.jpg http://www.controlscaddy.com/A55A69/bccaddyblog.nsf/plinks/CBYE-7F24BJ My mother died around 7:00 PM tonight, after a lifelong fight with diabetes and epilepsy. While funeral plans are still pending, there will not be many posts on here in the next few weeks as I juggle this sad and unexpected loss with customer ...GeneralChristopher Byrnehttp://www.controlscaddy.com/A55A69/bccaddyblog.nsf/plinks/CBYE-7F24BJhttp://www.controlscaddy.com/A55A69/bccaddyblog.nsf/plinks/CBYE-7F24BJMy mother died around 7:00 PM tonight, after a lifelong fight with diabetes and epilepsy. While funeral plans are still pending, there will not be many posts on here in the next few weeks as I juggle this sad and unexpected loss with customer commitments. I ask that you keep her in her prayers as she goes to a better place, and also her younger sister who the last surviving sibling of her generation. Their older brother John died a few weeks ago after a losing battle with cancer. I will be spending the next few days mourning her loss and hugging my kids harder than they can possibly stand. ]]>Mon, 26 May 2008 20:57:34 -0500 http://www.controlscaddy.com/A55A69/bccaddyblog.nsf/CommentsRSS?Open&id=EC627602E7FC27B986257456000AC285 http://www.controlscaddy.com/A55A69/bccaddyblog.nsf/PostComment?RunAgent&id=EC627602E7FC27B986257456000AC285http://www.controlscaddy.com/A55A69/bccaddyblog.nsf/plinks/CBYE-7EUGMY Social networking websites are like sex. The only sure thing is abstinance (sic), but since that's not really acceptable to a lot of people, you better have a lot of protection and education. If you post without security and without regard to what ...Blogging RisksChristopher Byrnehttp://www.controlscaddy.com/A55A69/bccaddyblog.nsf/plinks/CBYE-7EUGMYhttp://www.controlscaddy.com/A55A69/bccaddyblog.nsf/plinks/CBYE-7EUGMYSocial networking websites are like sex. The only sure thing is abstinance (sic), but since that's not really acceptable to a lot of people, you better have a lot of protection and education. If you post without security and without regard to what the content is, it's no different than unprotected sex -- it can lead to unintended consequences, and if you get involved in some really rough stuff, better believe you might get hurt.

Bill Smith, Ph.D.
Associate Athletic Director for Communications
University of Arkansas

It is perhaps the most disgusting example of the Web 2.0 Social Networking world to date. What it does falls under the long held American belief of free speech, yet it offends the sensibilities of anybody who has come across it to date. It is a web site by an alumnus of Duke University that probably has the University wishing that its image problems were limited to the Lacrosse team fiasco. But no, juicycampus.com has brought a great deal of attention to the owner of the web site and the fact that he is a Duke alum. He has created a site that allows people to post anonymous campus gossip, much of it so vile and below any standards of social decency, that it is garnering international attention and condemnation. One school's student body is lashing back with an "Anonymity=Cowardice" on-campus campaign, Major advertisers on the site, including Google, are pulling their ads from the site under wilting pressure. So is it time for all of us to jump on the "Anonymity=Cowardice" bandwagon?

This is actually a tougher question than it may seem to be on its face. While many internet sites and blogs do not allow anonymous comments, we do so only knowing that the person reportedly posting is who they say they are. We allow people to post with Gmail, Yahoo! and other public mail service accounts, yet we have no mechanism to test the veracity of these people and these addresses. There are also reasons why people want to post anonymously or with a false name. I myself have posted on the IBM Lotus DeveloperWorks discussion fora with the moniker of "File Save" for years, only "coming out" after I started this blog back in July of 2004. There was a simple reason for this. I started posting on there when I worked for Lotus Professional Services (now ISSL), and we were told not to post there with our real names, lest people think we were posting an official IBM/Lotus position on a subject. Of course, times have changed and you will see many an IBMer posting on there, identifying themselves as IBMers. So it might be argued that this type of anonymity does not equate to cowardice.

Then there is the case of a website called SportsJournlists.com. This is a web site where many a sportswriter and other journalists go to vent about their jobs and other frustrations. They do so with false screen names so that they do put their jobs at risk. At the same time, however, they attack others with so much vile and contempt that their "anonymity" does equate with cowardice. And it is ironic that these are the same people who blast blogs because of anonymous comments. But there is an unwritten code there: even if you know who the person behind the screen name is, you do not out them publicly. If they choose to out themselves, then they make that choice.

This brings us back to JuicyCampus. One of the many complaints about the site is that people are "outing" closet homosexuals, putting these people at emotional and physical risk. The ultimate irony here is that the owner of the site is a self-outed homosexual man. Yet he refuses media interviews as the web site is being investigated by state Attorneys General across the country.

There seems to be little people can do to pout this Genie back inside the bottle. Even if this site were to be shut down today, the type of content that drives it will still  be around and continue to grow. All we can do is to do our own self-policing of our web sites based on our principles and internal moral guidelines. We can also start to use practices that show our commitment to what we say we are going to do, which may not be easy. Companies such as PricewaterhouseCoopers require the use of a corporate email address that is physically validated before a registration process is completed. It might be argued that this is done for marketing purposes, but it can just as easily be argued that this is to protect against user fraud. But some people may work for companies that do not allow their company work addresses to be used for anything.

We could go further in what information we collect to validate a user s a real person. For example, It is getting harder to complete on-line registration forms for web sites using dummy information to "protect our privacy". Some sites are validating entered street address information against a United States Postal Service (USPS) database of valid mailing addresses, bouncing any registration requests that cannot be validated. Sadly, this is a false sense of validation. Unless I am registering on a site to actually conduct some sort of transaction, I can just open up a phone book and use any name and address that I find handy. And this just makes the situation worse.

The Web 2.0 world is fraught with with this type of peril and it may actually require a major paradigm shift in what people will do and not do on the Internet. One of these things, as written in a post by Dr. Smith is:

While this is old advise -- probably a year too late for many -- but if you have not claimed your name on your campus Facebook, here's yet another example of why that's a problem.

So let's all get together and give good social networking.

Related Link(s)

Dr. Bill Smith's 2006 COSIDA Presentation on Social Networking Sites ]]>Wed, 21 May 2008 07:28:41 -0500 http://www.controlscaddy.com/A55A69/bccaddyblog.nsf/CommentsRSS?Open&id=48EC36C9AB9F26378625745000448A6F http://www.controlscaddy.com/A55A69/bccaddyblog.nsf/PostComment?RunAgent&id=48EC36C9AB9F26378625745000448A6Fhttp://www.controlscaddy.com/A55A69/bccaddyblog.nsf/plinks/CBYE-7EDGL9This past week week has been an interesting one in the blogosphere. Arizona State University had terminated thier cheerleading program because of some pictures of their cheerleaders posted on blogs and elsewhere. As disturbing as this may be, even more ...Blogging RisksChristopher Byrnehttp://www.controlscaddy.com/A55A69/bccaddyblog.nsf/plinks/CBYE-7EDGL9http://www.controlscaddy.com/A55A69/bccaddyblog.nsf/plinks/CBYE-7EDGL9This past week week has been an interesting one in the blogosphere. Arizona State University had terminated thier cheerleading program because of some pictures of their cheerleaders posted on blogs and elsewhere. As disturbing as this may be, even more disturbing was the appearance of Pulitzer Prize winning Friday Night Lights author Buzz Bissinger on a live town hall style edition of "Costas Now!" last week. Billed as a special show to discuss the current state of sports media, the subject turned to the impact of blogs on sports media. Here is what happened.





HBO has already had these videos yanked from YouTube, so enjoy these now while you can.

You can also read my take on this show over on Eye on Sports Media.]]>Tue, 6 May 2008 07:25:56 -0500 http://www.controlscaddy.com/A55A69/bccaddyblog.nsf/CommentsRSS?Open&id=7DBCB9612D1741C886257441004449E1 http://www.controlscaddy.com/A55A69/bccaddyblog.nsf/PostComment?RunAgent&id=7DBCB9612D1741C886257441004449E1http://www.controlscaddy.com/A55A69/bccaddyblog.nsf/plinks/CBYE-7DP5TY I am on the road in Los Angeles this week and decided this was the best city to continue my efforts to go green in my life. Hertz now offers the Toyota Prius Hybrid as part of their rental fleet, so I specifically requested this car when I made ...Going GreenChristopher Byrnehttp://www.controlscaddy.com/A55A69/bccaddyblog.nsf/plinks/CBYE-7DP5TYhttp://www.controlscaddy.com/A55A69/bccaddyblog.nsf/plinks/CBYE-7DP5TYI am on the road in Los Angeles this week and decided this was the best city to continue my efforts to go green in my life. Hertz now offers the Toyota Prius Hybrid as part of their rental fleet, so I specifically requested this car when I made my reservation. At $200 a week for the corporate rate, not only do I keep my gas consumption down, I  am able to spew less pollution in the legendary LA traffic jams. The customer wins too, because it brings some of the costs of my  being out here down.

So I offer this challenge to my colleagues out there. If you are travelling alone, go ahead and rent a hybrid. Every time someone does a little bit to help the environment, everyone benefits in the long run. ]]>Sun, 13 Apr 2008 22:15:04 -0500 http://www.controlscaddy.com/A55A69/bccaddyblog.nsf/CommentsRSS?Open&id=A001B0619F064ABA8625742B0010B68B http://www.controlscaddy.com/A55A69/bccaddyblog.nsf/PostComment?RunAgent&id=A001B0619F064ABA8625742B0010B68Bhttp://www.controlscaddy.com/A55A69/bccaddyblog.nsf/plinks/CBYE-7DDKTZ Here is the latest from the AP on Google News (Thanks Jim Anderton!): WASHINGTON (AP) — IBM on Friday said the Environmental Protection Agency has lifted a week-old ban that prevented the company from getting new government contracts. The ban ...Government ComplianceChristopher Byrnehttp://www.controlscaddy.com/A55A69/bccaddyblog.nsf/plinks/CBYE-7DDKTZhttp://www.controlscaddy.com/A55A69/bccaddyblog.nsf/plinks/CBYE-7DDKTZHere is the latest from the AP on Google News (Thanks Jim Anderton!):

WASHINGTON (AP) — IBM on Friday said the Environmental Protection Agency has lifted a week-old ban that prevented the company from getting new government contracts.

The ban stemmed from an $84 million EPA contract the company lost last year and is protesting. Under a reciprocal agreement among federal agencies, when one issues a ban, the others follow it.

International Business Machines Corp. said it is continuing to cooperate with the EPA and the U.S. Attorney's Office for the Eastern District of Virginia, which served grand jury subpoenas seeking documents and testimony relating to the contract.

The EPA's decision likely means the incident being investigated is isolated, and that the agency acted so as not to "adversely affect a whole multinational corporation," said Ray Bjorklund, a senior vice president at market research firm Federal Sources Inc.

If the company being probed was smaller and the potential violations touched most of its officials and employees, the government would have been less inclined to lift such a ban, Bjorklund said.

IBM spokesman Fred McNeese declined to comment beyond the material in the company's press release. The EPA did not immediately have any comment.

IBM's federal contracts last year amounted to at least $1.3 billion, roughly 1 percent of its revenue. ]]>Fri, 4 Apr 2008 10:11:55 -0500 http://www.controlscaddy.com/A55A69/bccaddyblog.nsf/CommentsRSS?Open&id=1A394C84CC88FEFD862574210052737F http://www.controlscaddy.com/A55A69/bccaddyblog.nsf/PostComment?RunAgent&id=1A394C84CC88FEFD862574210052737Fhttp://www.controlscaddy.com/A55A69/bccaddyblog.nsf/plinks/CBYE-7DD546 In a nutshell, this means IBM messed up on at least one of their Federal (US) contracts. They have not been barred, only suspended (as of March 28, 2008). It is not clear if there is a direct correlation with a contract being protested by IBM, but ...Government ComplianceChristopher Byrnehttp://www.controlscaddy.com/A55A69/bccaddyblog.nsf/plinks/CBYE-7DD546http://www.controlscaddy.com/A55A69/bccaddyblog.nsf/plinks/CBYE-7DD546In a nutshell, this means IBM messed up on at least one of their Federal (US) contracts. They have not been barred, only suspended (as of March 28, 2008). It is not clear if there is a direct correlation with a contract being protested by IBM, but information on the contract is posted on the EPA Web site. The contracting officer for this procurement, Yvonne Stiso, reports to Tim Farris, who  I know to be an extremely fair and reasonable person who would not move such an action forward if he felt it were not warranted.

Here is IBM's official statement:

The notice of temporary suspension was issued by the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and relates to an investigation by the EPA of possible violations of the Procurement Integrity provisions of the Office of Federal Procurement Policy Act regarding a bid for business with the EPA originally submitted in March 2006. The temporary suspension applies to all Federal agencies and IBM business units. IBM may continue awards in existence as of the date of this suspension, unless a particular agency directs otherwise.

In addition, the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District of Virginia has served IBM and certain employees with grand jury subpoenas requesting testimony and documents regarding interactions between employees of the EPA and certain IBM employees.

IBM has served the Federal agency community for many decades as a vendor in good standing and is committed to the highest standards of business ethics. IBM provides training on its Business Conduct Guidelines to all employees, with specialized training to those employees working on matters with the Federal government, to ensure compliance with all applicable Federal requirements.

Prior to learning of the temporary suspension on March 28, 2008, IBM was not aware that the EPA or U.S. Attorney’s office were considering any action against IBM. Upon learning of the suspension, IBM initiated discussions with the EPA and the U.S. Attorney’s office to obtain additional information and is cooperating with the investigations.

Under Federal procurement procedures, IBM has 30 days in which to contest the scope of the temporary suspension, which can continue for an initial period of up to one year pending the completion of the investigation. IBM intends to take all appropriate actions to challenge the suspension and limit its scope. ]]>Thu, 3 Apr 2008 21:36:58 -0500 http://www.controlscaddy.com/A55A69/bccaddyblog.nsf/CommentsRSS?Open&id=AB85B4E7B188862E86257421000D5682 http://www.controlscaddy.com/A55A69/bccaddyblog.nsf/PostComment?RunAgent&id=AB85B4E7B188862E86257421000D5682http://www.controlscaddy.com/A55A69/bccaddyblog.nsf/plinks/CBYE-7D6MSP One of the key people behind the scenes at Lotusphere that attendees do not see or even know about is Bill Chuck. president of B. Czar Productions (pictured left). Each year at Lotusphere, he is behind the scenes working with IBM employees who will be ...InterviewsChristopher Byrnehttp://www.controlscaddy.com/A55A69/bccaddyblog.nsf/plinks/CBYE-7D6MSPhttp://www.controlscaddy.com/A55A69/bccaddyblog.nsf/plinks/CBYE-7D6MSPOne of the key people behind the scenes at Lotusphere that attendees do not see or even know about is Bill Chuck. president of B. Czar Productions (pictured left). Each year at Lotusphere, he is behind the scenes working with IBM employees who will be speaking, helping them refine their presentation styles. This year he was a little more visible, serving as one of the judges at the Lotusphere Idol session. He has a book coming out next week, Walkoffs, Last Licks, and Final Outs - Baseball's Grand (and not so grand) Finales. I have been working with him on an interview for Eye on Sports Media. Part I, which focuses on his love for baseball, his web site (billy-ball.com), and the forthcoming book, is now published on that site. ]]>Fri, 28 Mar 2008 11:52:17 -0500 http://www.controlscaddy.com/A55A69/bccaddyblog.nsf/CommentsRSS?Open&id=9273848CBD4C70778625741A005BB3F8 http://www.controlscaddy.com/A55A69/bccaddyblog.nsf/PostComment?RunAgent&id=9273848CBD4C70778625741A005BB3F8http://www.controlscaddy.com/A55A69/bccaddyblog.nsf/plinks/CBYE-7D5GQU "You must work for the airlines," said the Denver Stapleton Airport lost and found representative on the telephone. "Why do you say that?," I replied. "Because you spell just like they do!" What were we talking ...Just for FunChristopher Byrnehttp://www.controlscaddy.com/A55A69/bccaddyblog.nsf/plinks/CBYE-7D5GQUhttp://www.controlscaddy.com/A55A69/bccaddyblog.nsf/plinks/CBYE-7D5GQU"You must work for the airlines," said the Denver Stapleton Airport lost and found representative on the telephone.

"Why do you say that?," I replied.

"Because you spell just like they do!"

What were we talking about? Well I had just spelled out my home address in the way that I learned to do it on the telephone or on the radio. Instead of saying "F as in Frank, E as in Eric", etc. etc., I used the international radiotelephony spelling alphabet, saying Foxtrot-Echo-Alp Many people may not be familiar with this alphabet. In a nutshell, here is how it is described on Wikipedia:

The NATO phonetic alphabet, more formally the international radiotelephony spelling alphabet, is the most widely used spelling alphabet. Though often called "phonetic alphabets", spelling alphabets have no connection to phonetic transcription systems like the International Phonetic Alphabet. Instead, the NATO alphabet assigns code words to the letters of the English alphabet acrophonically so that critical combinations of letters (and numbers) can be pronounced and understood by those who transmit and receive voice messages by radio or telephone regardless of their native language, especially when the safety of navigation or persons is essential. The paramount reason is to ensure intelligibility of voice signals over radio links.

If every schoolchild and adult were taught to use this system, especially those who work in telephone-based customer service, life and communication would be far less daunting when making customer service calls. So for those who would like to learn this very simple system, here it is:



So the next time you are on a call with customer service, and you are getting frustrated because things seem to be getting really foxtrot-uniform, just pull out this chart and have at it. It really does help clear up communication. I "say again"*, it really does help clear up communication.

*In the military, you never say repeat, because that is a term specific to artillery barrages. If you say "repeat", it means to fire again. That is why if you ever hear a person use the phrase "say again", they have some ties to the military in their background. ]]>Thu, 27 Mar 2008 07:33:19 -0500 http://www.controlscaddy.com/A55A69/bccaddyblog.nsf/CommentsRSS?Open&id=97B3847F5DC92D2E86257419004401A4 http://www.controlscaddy.com/A55A69/bccaddyblog.nsf/PostComment?RunAgent&id=97B3847F5DC92D2E86257419004401A4http://www.controlscaddy.com/A55A69/bccaddyblog.nsf/plinks/CBYE-7D4GL2 As Ma Bell continues to reconsolidate its monopolistic position, it's right hand does not seem to know what its left hand is doing. Not only can and does this pose challenges for consumer customers, but for their business customers as well. The latter is ...IT GovernanceChristopher Byrnehttp://www.controlscaddy.com/A55A69/bccaddyblog.nsf/plinks/CBYE-7D4GL2http://www.controlscaddy.com/A55A69/bccaddyblog.nsf/plinks/CBYE-7D4GL2As Ma Bell continues to reconsolidate its monopolistic position, it's right hand does not seem to know what its left hand is doing. Not only can and does this pose challenges for consumer customers, but for their business customers as well. The latter is a scenario which poses business process control risks for enterprise customers, adding difficulty to managing their own environments.

The Consumer Challenge

When DSL finally became available in our neighborhood in November 2006, we switched from Earthlink to BellSouth so we could get the service. At the time, we could only get the lower two tiers of services, which meant that I had to pay $15 extra to have a fixed IP address. The Fixed IP address was needed when I needed to connect to some customers via VPN or to get through their firewall (I like certainty). so we paid a base cost of $32 for the DSL plus the $15. Recently, we could upgrade to the next tier of service and pay only US$37 a month, including the fixed IP address. Do figure. But there was another freebie attached: free access to the 10,000 AT&T and ATT partner wi-fi hotspots around the country. This mean I could connect in any airport for free without having to buy an air card.

This sounded great. Instead of getting ripped off by the handful of airports that charge for wi-fi, I had a quick and easy way to connect. Or so I thought. I was sitting at the gate a few weeks ago and needed to connect, but it would not accept my login credentials. So I get on my cell phone and call the customer service site listed on the log-in form. After navigating their horribly frustrating menu system, which had NO options for Wi-Fi support. I finally get a live person.

ATT: May I please have your DSL-provisioned phone number and account name please?
Me: Sure: Here it is...
ATT: I am sorry, we do not show that you are an active DSL customer of ATT.
Me: Well I am am, and that is  who I pay my bill to every month.
ATT I am sorry sir, we do not have any record that you have an account with us?
Me: I do not understand, I have been with BellSouth since November 2006.
ATT: I see sir. Their records have not yet been integrated with ours.
Me: but I write my check out to you each month?
ATT: I am sorry sir, but your are going to have to call Bellsouth support for help with this issue at 800-XXX-XXXX.

So I call the BellSouth number, deal with the frustrating menu system and get another live voice.

BellSouth: May I please have your DSL-provisioned phone number and account name please?
Me: Sure: Here it is...
BellSouth: I have your record. How may I help you?
Me: I am having difficulties connecting to the free wi-fi that is part of my DSL package.
BellSouth: I am sorry sir, but we cannot help you with that. You will need to call this number for help with that.

Well you can guess what number I was given. I was being put in a DoWhile loop with no escape. Totally unacceptable and a sure sign that a company does not have its act together.

The Business Customer Challenge

So fast forward to last week. I am working with a customer to deploy a brand new Domino messaging infrastructure. Because they are a small operation, ATT manages their firewall and router. They were asked to open specific ports to accommodate the Domino server and the Barracuda appliance. Supposedly they did it, but problems were being experienced. So, with the printed out web-request document for the change, we get on the phone with ATT managed customer service, and we get someone located someplace off-shore.

ATT: May I please have your customer information.
Customer: Sure, here it is.
ATT How may I help you?
Customer: We are having issues with a configuration change request for our firewall and router.
ATT: Sir, according to our database, we do not manage your router.
Customer: Yes, you do, and you always have.
ATT: Sir, our database says we do not, so we do not. May I please have your ticket number?
Customer: The ticket number is XXXXXXX.
ATT: Sir, that is not a valid ticket number in our system.
Customer: That is the ticket number your system generated and assigned to the request.
ATT I am sorry sir, that is not a valid ticket number...

So we ask to speak to her supervisor, and she balks. We insist, so she puts on hold. In the meantime, someone finds the phone number of the ATT engineer they had worked with previously and call him on another number. After 30 minutes, the engineer discovers they have made a mistake. We are still on hold with customer service. the problem is fixed, so we thank the engineer. We also hang up the line waiting for customer service to take us off of hold. Close to 45 minutes later she calls back to say her supervisor is unavailable. Can you say Urghhhh!?

The Business Process Control Challenge

The lag time in dealing with ATT in processing the configuration change request for the router, and subsequent troubleshooting made it very difficult, no impossible, to make required changes immediately. If this had been a business/time critical need, the customer would have been left high and dry, and their risk exposure profile would have been extremely vulnerable. It is one thing for a consumer like me to have to deal with the problems I had. It is an entirely different scenario for a business customer. In both cases, the new ATT has fallen flat on their rear ends and makes me wonder why I would want to continue to do business with them as a consumer, and why any customer would want to put their operations at risk. ]]>Wed, 26 Mar 2008 07:25:35 -0500 http://www.controlscaddy.com/A55A69/bccaddyblog.nsf/CommentsRSS?Open&id=053D1FCE329392758625741800434EBC http://www.controlscaddy.com/A55A69/bccaddyblog.nsf/PostComment?RunAgent&id=053D1FCE329392758625741800434EBChttp://www.controlscaddy.com/A55A69/bccaddyblog.nsf/plinks/CBYE-7CV7TA The tornado that shocked Atlanta last Friday night had the Southeastern Conference scrambling to find a way to recover and complete their 2008 Men's Basketball Tournament. But the pulled it off. The following is an excerpt of an Interview I did with SEC ...Disaster RecoveryChristopher Byrnehttp://www.controlscaddy.com/A55A69/bccaddyblog.nsf/plinks/CBYE-7CV7TAhttp://www.controlscaddy.com/A55A69/bccaddyblog.nsf/plinks/CBYE-7CV7TAThe tornado that shocked Atlanta last Friday night had the Southeastern Conference scrambling to find a way to recover and complete their 2008 Men's Basketball Tournament. But the pulled it off. The following is an excerpt of an Interview I did with SEC Media Relations Director DeWayne Peevy, and is available in full over on Eye on Sports Media:

"If I had one lesson to take from this," says Southeastern Conference Men's Basketball Media Relations Director DeWayne Peevy, "is to never underestimate who will step up with ability to help when facing trying circumstances." Peevy, of course, is referring to the decisions that had to be made, and the implementation of these decisions after a category F-2 tornado hit the heart of Atlanta last Friday night. Alabama and Mississippi State were in the midst of an overtime period in their quarterfinal match-up when, with 2:11 left on the clock, the sound of a train running through the area was heard. To many people who have experienced it in the past, they knew it was the sound of a tornado. Everything on the court stopped and people started looking up, not realizing at the time that a major change was coming to the 2008 Southeastern Conference Men's Basketball Tournament....

...And the end result? Peevy says that "A very small minority in the media voiced complaints, and that is probably because they did not just understand the magnitude of what had to be done.The remaining part of the tournament was actually one of the smoothest we have ever had." This could be because the tornado slapped the Southeastern Conference and media out of their complacency that can breed from doing things a certain way, year after year. One thing is for certain, everybody in the Georgia Dome Friday night is very lucky that the tornado did not make a direct hit. It is also probable that the SEC will start drawing up contingency and disaster recover plans for their sponsored tournaments and championships. ]]>Tue, 18 Mar 2008 23:56:24 -0500 http://www.controlscaddy.com/A55A69/bccaddyblog.nsf/CommentsRSS?Open&id=A49C97E968167F0386257411001A4084 http://www.controlscaddy.com/A55A69/bccaddyblog.nsf/PostComment?RunAgent&id=A49C97E968167F0386257411001A4084