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The Winter Olympics have ended. The USA Hockey players put up a nice fight against the Canadian Team although lost in an epic game that went into sudden death overtime. The NFL has already issued a press release saying "Overtime works". Not really, but a thought.
Chile - Death toll passed 700. Electricity out and water is sparse. A terrible disaster.
1. Today is shoutout sunday on Twitter - help us promote the better and improved version of follow friday and give good karma to those who deserve it the most.
2. Trying to recover from the trip - very well rested
We are down to six teams in the NFL playoffs. And tomorrow night we shall say then there were four.
Both New Orleans and Indianapolis looked good IMO today. Caution to the wind though as Arizona looked vulnerable last week and got Colt McCoyed when Warner got drilled today. Oh and Baltimore just looked sloppy sloppy on offense and defense tonight.
I do expect these two teams to win again next week against TBD opponents either the Cowboys or the Vikings for the Saints and the Colts will tackle either the Chargers or the J- E - T- S.
I think we will see Indy vs. New Orleans with an epic battle as the Colts win their second championship with Peyton Manning at the helm.
Wow - USC hires a guy who ignores the NCAA rules in Lane Kiffin. That's my first thought. Mind boggling especially when they are probably doing plenty of snooping right now around the USC campus.
Well Rocky Top Rocky Flop - Kiffin did a decent job in one year and moves on from Knoxvegas to Hollywood
This coaching carousel and game of musical chairs is wild.
NFL Wild Card Saturday - I thought I would watch all day. I caught very little of the J-E-T-S and the Bungles. I saw the 2nd quarter of the Dallas - Philly game. Looks like Dallas will end its recent bad luck in the playoffs and advance to the second round.
The most discussed news in my part of the world is still the Alabama National Championship victory. So other than the local mayoral race in Birmingham, I have very little knowledge of the going ons in national politics.
So the other day Andre Dawson was voted in to the Hall of Fame. I'm not thrilled about this, Dawson was a borderline choice. It took him 9 tries to get in. Somethings not right about that, your performance comes up for review 8 straight times and they say no. Then you get it once and you're in for life?
Dawson admitted that he extensively used pain killers to prolong his career after over a decade playing on the harsh astroturf in Montreal. Why no stigma over this? Especially in a decade when countless celebrities have died from prescription drug abuse (many more so than steroid abuse). Mark McGwire barely got 25% of the vote on his 4th attempt at the HoF. He's a victim of bad PR or legal advice, if he had Jason Giambi's entourage Mark would have been in the hall two years ago. The guy with the most hits in MLB history Pete Rose is still waiting to get in as is Shoeless Joe Jackson. If they want me to book a trip to Cooperstown again, I want to see Mac, Rose and Jackson I don't wanna see Niekro, Dawson and Bert Blyleven (next year's token pick).
Happy New Year - After seeing clips, I just saw the whole enchilada. If you love sports like I know you do enjoy. If not then I think you will like this Coldplay song.
Some of my favorite moments
1. The Tyrone Prothro (Alabama #4) catch over the back of the Southern Miss defender. - I have the painting in my office
2. Vince Young Smelling the Roses
3. Tiger making the putt that just hung to beat Chris DiMarco and win the Masters. Di Marco was such a competitor that day.
4. Playoffs, Practice, I'm 40, They are who we thought they were
5. The Music City Miracle - I almost forgot it was part of this decade.
I could have done without the George W. Bush - but hey I guess he was a big player in the last decade - Should have included Obama somewhere though. Too much TO. Let's see a lot less of him in the teens.
"You certainly won't see it at the same institution," he said. "People get tired of you and they want to run you out of town. You see that all the time. You're a missed field goal away from being a bum with everybody else. That's just part of the deal. All coaches know that now. ... You have about two, three years to get your program going. So I don't see doing that. The wear and tear on coaching is -- I imagine it's like it's never been, with recruiting 24/7, 12 months a year. It's a tough lifestyle."
Asked if Mr. Abdulmutallab was part of a bigger plot or whether he was a "lone wolf," Ms. Napolitano replied, "Well, right now, we have no indication that it's part of anything larger, but obviously the investigation continues."
Ms. Napolitano was pressed on CNN as well as other Sunday news programs why Mr. Abdulmutallab, whose name was in the American intelligence community's central repository of information on known or suspected international terrorists, had been allowed to board the trans-Atlantic flight in Amsterdam. Mr. Abdulmutallab, the son of a prominent Nigerian banker, was put in the database last month because his father had recently warned officials at the United States Embassy in Nigeria that he was concerned about his son's increasingly extremist religious views.
"You have to understand that you need information that is specific and credible if you are going to actually bar someone from air travel," Ms. Napolitano said on CNN. "He was on a general list, which over half a million people - everybody had access to it. But there was not the kind of credible information, in the sense derogatory information, that would move him up the list."
TEHRAN -- Security forces opened fire at crowds demonstrating against the government in the capital on Sunday, killing at least four people, including the nephew of opposition political leader Mir Hossein Mousavi, witnesses and Web sites linked to the opposition said.
I love this time of year. Holidays. Family and Friends. The spirit of giving. Bowl Games. College Basketball and Saturday Night Football - which is being called Thursday Night Special Edition on the NFL Network.
Curtis sorry to hijack your diary - but just wanted to update that a day after the incident Chris Henry has been pronounced dead.
Bengals receiver Chris Henry is battling for his life after a domestic dispute today where he suffered major injuries.
CHARLOTTE, North Carolina (AP)-Cincinnati Bengals receiver Chris Henry is "battling for his life" after falling out of the back of a moving truck during what police described as a domestic dispute with his fiancee on Wednesday.
Henry was found in the road in south Charlotte "apparently suffering life-threatening injuries," according to Charlotte-Mecklenburg police. Police spokesman Robert Fey said officers were near Henry's hospital room but he had no information on Henry's condition.
"We ask everyone to pray for Chris," agent Andy Simms of PlayersRep Sports said in a statement. "We also ask that you respect the privacy of Chris' family. Chris is indeed battling for his life tonight, and our thoughts and prayers (are) with him during this extremely difficult time."
Police said a dispute began at a home just before noon and Henry jumped into the bed of the truck as his fiancee-whom they did not identify by name-was driving away from the residence.
Henry was found on a residential street about a half mile from the home when police were called to the scene.
This is an awful accident lets pray it's not a fatal one for this talented young man.
Today I attended the Atlanta Falcons v. Philadelphia Eagles game which was touted as the return of Michael Vick to the Georgia Dome. Atlanta fans arrived in displays of split allegiances with old red Falcons jerseys with #7. Some even had on Eagles Vick jerseys and Falcons caps. He entered the first series of the game to boos and cheers.
Look, Michael Vick did his time and now trying to resurrect his life. He deserves that chance said the NFL and the Eagles offered him employment. Enough said, story over as far as the claim that he does not deserve to be in the league.
However, I along with other true Falcons fans were dismayed to see fans cheering for Vick during the game. Congratulate Vick on his first touchdowns upon returning after the game. He played well and the league benefits from his performance. However, I question the logic of you can cheer against your team over loyalty to one player. Vick's loyalty was to himself not the Falcons team, the owners and the fans when he was committing criminal acts.
The Falcons were in a position where they had to go in a different direction due to Vick's impending incarceration and the way he handled his case. He lied to the management, the ownership and the NFL about his involvement in the dog fighting scandal. Had he come clean earlier he likely would have softened the bite (pun intended) of the sentence. He screwed the Falcons much more than they could have possibly screwed him. They traded away a backup who is now starting in Matt Schaub because they believed Vick ,or Ron Mexico as he has also been known, would be the future quarterback of the franchise.
I was a Falcons fan way before I knew of Michael Vick. When he was playing Pop Warner football I was cheering for the Falcons back in the terrible years. Look Vick had achieved success in making Atlanta a force to be reckoned with as a Pro Bowl quarterback, but he never took them to a Super Bowl or consecutive playoff years much less.
I do wish Vick continued success as a member of the Philadelphia Eagles. Andy Reid and Vick have a personal connection. McNabb is the quarterback and the leader of the franchise on the field and in the clubhouse. Vick can play a role with this team and will likely return to the playoffs. Today he had a good day, but the Eagles would have cleaned the Falcons clocks regardless. I hope that not too much is made out of this by the media, but we know how they love to sensationalize and make such stories tabloid hits.
We're a political blog but we're also sports nuts. Tonight is an exceptional Thursday night for football. As I'm typing this it's 3 - 3 at the end of first quarter in the Jets/Bills game. When I turned the game on Braylon Edwards was wide open and dropped a long bomb that would have been a touchdown.
Coming up in a few minutes the Oregon Ducks are taking on the Oregon State Beavers in the Civil War game. This is a huge game and it decides the Pac 10.
Rivals.com A Pac-10 championship and a Rose Bowl bid are on the line in Eugene, Ore., on Thursday night, but the stakes aren't quite as high as they once were...
From 1965-88, the "Civil War" between Oregon and Oregon State was about as compelling as a civics class...
For the first time in the history of the series, which dates to 1894, the teams will meet in a winner-take-all game for a trip to the Rose Bowl. The winning team also will end a significant drought. Oregon State hasn't played in Pasadena since the 1964 season. Oregon's slump isn't quite as long - the Ducks last played there after the 1994 season, under Brooks.
This has been a fantastic season for the pac 10 with 5 ranked teams.
Pacific-10 Conf All
Oregon (7) 7-1 9-2
Oregon State (13) 6-2 8-3
Stanford (23) 6-3 8-4
USC (20) 5-3 8-3
California (19) 5-3 8-3
There are only four bowls available, so one of these teams is out of luck. I heard today on KNBR that Stanford and Cal will be competing for the Pac 10 spot in the Emerald Bowl (hosted in San Francisco). Also they said that the EB is likely to choose Stanford because Toby Gearhart (RB) is competing for a Heisman, and they have a young exciting Quarterback. Meanwhile Cal's star RB Jahvid Best is out. I'd certainly like to see Stanford in there.
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