Sunday, January 22, 2006
Grizzly Adams
January 20, 2006
DENVER (AP) -- Peyton Manning and Tom Brady, they most certainly are not.
Just a couple of "dirtbags" is how Jake Plummer described himself and Ben Roethlisberger, the pair of quarterbacks in charge of guiding their offenses through Sunday's AFC title game.
Instead of glitz and glamour, football fans get facial hair and efficiency -- Plummer versus Roethlisberger -- when the Broncos and Steelers meet with a trip to the Super Bowl on the line.
Last weekend, Plummer took care of Brady while Roethlisberger knocked Manning out of the playoffs.
"They got a chance to see that one earlier in the season, and maybe they'll get to see it next year," Steelers coach Bill Cowher said, referring to the marquee matchup that didn't pan out for this week.
Instead, it's a pair of quarterbacks who failed in the playoffs last season, but came back this year and embraced the notion -- some say the somewhat unrealistic notion -- that they are mere cogs in their respective offenses, not the players who must make them tick.
"That's the big question that people are trying to figure out. I am, too," Plummer said Friday when asked what's so different about this year from last. "I'm just playing football. Five years ago, I prepared the same way."
The results, however, have been different.
Maybe it's because, as coach Mike Shanahan says, it takes three years in a system for a quarterback to acclimate.
Or maybe, as Plummer suggests, it's because he got a new sense of security when Shanahan and owner Pat Bowlen showed their support by electing to pay the $6 million roster bonus Plummer was owed last offseason.
Off the field, Plummer refused to change his public persona. His scruffy, Grizzly Adams beard is something of an obsession in Denver, where John Elway set the standard for how quarterbacks should act, play, be.
Plummer doesn't play that game.
What he wants to look at and talk about is the next game and honestly, that strategy has worked. Plummer threw only seven interceptions this season -- compared to 20 last season -- and the number dwindles to five if you throw out opening day, a 34-10 loss to Miami that has since been proven a major aberration.
"Everything he's done over the offseason, I don't exactly know what he's done, but whatever it is, I like it," Broncos receiver Rod Smith said.
While many might not have anticipated a mercurial turnaround for Plummer, now in his ninth year, improvement for Roethlisberger in Year 2 could have been expected.
His troubles last season came mainly in the playoffs, when the speed of the game picked up and the long grind of the season really started wearing him down.
"He was a robotic quarterback a year ago," Cowher said. "He's been able to pace himself over the course of the year by understanding the length of the season. All these things are why you're seeing the difference from this year to last year."
Last year, even though the Steelers went 15-1, Roethlisberger tightened up under the pressure of trying to make the Super Bowl as a rookie. He threw five interceptions in two playoff games. He never looked comfortable under center, never looked like a favorite or a guy who'd been there before -- precisely because he hadn't.
Turns out, living up to Terry Bradshaw's standard in Pittsburgh can be as sapping as living up to Elway is in Denver.
So, Roethlisberger changed.
One minor point: He grew a beard, although he insists it was only to stay warm during the Pennsylvania winters. His Abe Lincolnesque look didn't create as much of a stir in Pittsburgh as Plummer's did in Denver.
The quarterback's improved play certainly did, though.
"I'm just trying to take it one step at a time and be better prepared for everything that is thrown my way and just making sure mentally that I'm sharp," Roethlisberger said.
This season, with the help of an offensive plan that has the Steelers running the ball 57 percent of the time, the Pittsburgh quarterback is, quite simply, better. The genius of having such a run-heavy offense paid off last week against Indy when, in a move the Colts certainly didn't expect, Roethlisberger threw on 12 of the first 19 plays.
By the time the Colts knew what hit them, they were trailing 14-0.
Though he threw it fewer times than almost anyone else, Roethlisberger averaged 8.9 yards per pass attempt, best in the NFL.
"I think that goes unnoticed quite a bit," Shanahan said.
So, which of these quarterbacks will win it Sunday?
Maybe a more appropriate question is, which one won't lose it?
Thus far this season, neither has shown a penchant for mistakes that plagued them last year or, in Plummer's case, over a long career.
Of course, "not losing" a game is much more difficult for a quarterback than it might appear.
"Regardless of what I've done so far, this is a big game and there will be pressure," Plummer said. "I just look at what's in front of me. It's a great opportunity. At this point, I'm not looking back at the past too much."
Tuesday, January 10, 2006
a few words from the wise one
- 上海財經大學財經研究所都市農業經濟研究中心薛宇峰指出，目前中國農村中，低於平均收入水平的農戶數量在不斷增加，半數以上農戶的家庭收入低於全國平均水平，中國農民收入分配不平等程度日益嚴重。
- 專家指農民貧富差距拉大
2006-1-10【大公報記者吳斌北京九日電】上海財經大學財經研究所都市農業經濟研究中心薛宇峰指出，目前中國農村中，低於平均收入水平的農戶數量在不斷增加，半數以上農戶的家庭收入低於全國平均水平，中國農民收入分配不平等程度日益嚴重。
薛宇峰說，經過實證分析，從總體上看，近年來，按縣、鄉、村分組的中國農民人均收入的基尼系數，都表現出不斷增大的趨勢。換言之，中國農村居民收入分配的不平等在持續惡化之中，無明顯改善的跡象。
薛宇峰強調，經過比較研究，發現在中國糧食主產區中，除去極少數省份有顯著或輕微的改善外，絕大部分省區，特別是處於中等收入範圍的糧食主產省區，農村居民收入分配的不平等狀況，都有明顯惡化的傾向。
影 響中國農村收入分配不平等的原因是什麼？薛宇峰認為，有各種各樣的因素。其中，區域間農業生產結構的差異和非農產業分布不均勻，無疑對農村居民收入分配具 有重要影響。此外，自然條件等要素的結構、經濟發展的區域差異，對農民收入的影響也不應忽視。而農業生產資料價格急劇上漲，造成生產成本上漲，更是導致糧 食主產區農民增產不增收的重要因素。
分析人士指出，十六屆五中全會把建設社會主義新農村確定為 中國現代化進程中的重大歷史任務，增加農民收入也是「十一五」期間中央政府解決「三農」問題的著力點之一。以上雖為一家之言，但仍具有參考意義。正確對待 農民收入分配不平等問題，並採取行之有效的措施，在提高農民收入整體水平、縮小城鄉差距的同時，注意縮小農民間的收入差距，杜絕農村內部的兩極分化，仍是 刻不容緩。
- (in translation) According to Shanghai University of Finance and Economics' Finance and Economics Research Institutue's Urban-Rural Economics Research Center's Shi Yufeng, the number of farmers who make less than the average income is increasing. More than half of the peasants have family income lower than the national average. Therefore, the unequal distribution of income for the Chinese farmers are getting more serious every day.
When it comes to income statistics, there are two numbers that are usually cited. The mean is the arithmetic average of all the incomes (that is, you add up the incomes of everybody and you divide that by the number of people (or households)). The median is the income level for which half the number of people make less than and the other half make more than. It is a virtual certainty that the mean is larger than the median (and this is true even during the Cultural Revolution when almost everybody made 36 yuan a month but there were still a few that made a little bit more). For example, in the United States, the mean household income is about US$75,000 but the median household income is only about US$44,000. The explanation is the Bill Gates effect -- the presence of Bill Gates will bring the mean income up significantly, but it will not affect the median all.
Now let us go back to the statement -- more than half of the peasants have family income lower than the national average. In other words, this is a statement that the median family income is lower than the mean family income. Nobody expects otherwise. This is a vacuous statement. What is it in the opening paragraph? The rest of the article is okay, but this statement is either stupid or else an attempt to mislead.
