Flotsam and Jetsam

Miscellaneous thoughts and observations.

Peyton Manning should have insured his passing record with State Farm before it was broken... Heh heh... William Shakespeare, perhaps the greatest writer of all-time, was married to a woman who could neither read nor write... Maybe Boston fans were right - the Yankees do suck... For those following at home - Nike stock is now at $75.91. It was at $82 when they announced their Colin Kaepernick ad campaign... I'll say it again - if Donald Trump makes Nikki Haley his VP he'd be unbeatable in the 2020 election and potentially set Haley up for 8 more years of a Republican in the White House... What the world needs now is a Prog Rock Kazoo channel...

Linky Links

Stuff I found interesting and thought I'd share.

A 2011 Quiz. I got 12 out of 14 but honestly a couple were guesses.

15 of the Greatest Gifts in the History of Presents. It should be noted that France originally was going to give the Statue of Liberty to Egypt. It would have had a veil and have been named something else.

Tom Brady is having one of the greatest seasons in history (that nobody will notice). I really like the comparison to the year Oscar Robinson averaged a triple-double and still finished 3rd in the MVP voting.

Bush 41 backs Mitt Romney for President. Also not a fan of Newt Gingrich.

Dayne Crist reunites with Charlie Weiss at Kansas for a season of NFL preparation.

Todd Haley and the Kansas City Chiefs

Very enjoyable read by Jason Whitlock on why he feels Todd Haley is not a legit NFL coach.

Nicely done.

It also - without expressly saying it - greatly complements Bill Belichick who hasn't lost a step in the personnel department despite losing Scott Pioli. Look at some of the draft picks and free agents that are helping the Patriots this year and it is hard not to think that Belichick may not just be the best coach in the NFL but also the best GM.

Flotsam and Jetsam

Miscellaneous thoughts and Observations.

Happy New Year everyone... People making big deal out of today being 1.1.11 but bigger deal is that 2011 is a prime number. The last year to be a prime number was 2003... Central Florida covered the spread for 11th time this year. That ties Hawaii. Virginia Tech also has chance to tie mark. I wish people told me this before the season started!... Sigh - another year goes by without science giving us those flying cars we were promised... Thank God for stairs!... "Sin that pays its way can travel freely, and without a passport; whereas Virtue, if a pauper, is stopped at all frontiers." - Herman Melville... In college football betting - going into the bowls - there were 412 overs and 365 unders. It just seemed like over was always coming in... Wicked cool - Russia's Flying Submarine... If Charlie Weis can go to Florida as the Offensive Coordinator - could Josh McDaniels surface in Kansas City as his replacement?... New Years resolution is that if I see any luxury cars driving around with big red bows on them I will do my best to run them off the road... Today may be January 1st but it is still November in my soul.

Flotsam and Jetsam

Miscellaneous thoughts and observations.

Have you seen the clip of Max Baucus speaking on the Senate floor where he appears to be drunk? Shouldn't we compare that to other clips of him speaking? If there is an obvious difference then he has some explaining to do... Editing My Reality would be a good name for a blog... Because everyone needs a little Zombo.com in their life now and then... Admit it - Max Baucus sounds more like the name of a Roman bartender than a US Senator... I'm going to predict that Mike Leach will use the Costanza sex with the cleaning lady defense. "Was that wrong? Should I have not put kids in dark closets?" I also predict he gets fired over this... I'm going to open a clothing store called New Navy. I think it will be catchy... Wouldn't be surprised to see Chris Young traded by the Padres. If healthy - he's as good or better than all the remaining FA pitchers... Would Charlie Weiss be the right replacement for Mike Leach at Texas Tech if Leach is fired over this situation? Weis could also have a high-flying passing offense. Could be the perfect bounce-back situation for Weis... Star Trek and poker... Happy 36th birthday to Red Sox GM Theo Epstein...

College Football Flotsam and Jetsam

Miscellaneous college football thoughts and observations.

Week three in college football always seems to bring some big surprises and this year was no exception. The biggest surprise was of course USC getting beat by Washington. This was the 4th year in a row that USC was beaten by an unranked team. Two things about this game - first I hope that blame is not put solely on the shoulders of QB Aaron Corp. If freshman QB Matt Barkley comes back and leads USC to wins the rest of the way then Corp will be a target but it will be unfair. The whole team lost yesterday - not just the QB. Secondly, you have to wonder how this will effect Ohio State. It will be tough for voters to rank Ohio State ahead of USC for the rest of the way enabling maybe some lesser talented one-loss teams to leapfrog the Buckeyes in the rankings... Maybe the biggest winner of the weekend was Miami. First they dismantle 14th ranked Georgia Tech and then a team they beat - Florida State - dismantled number 7 BYU. Number 20 Miami will be sure to jump a number of spots in the rankings after the results of the past few days but the question is how many? The BYU loss causes a rankings conundrum. Oklahoma lost to BYU and is ranked 12th. Logic would seem to dictate that Miami be ranked higher with the thinking of Miami beat FSU, FSU beat BYU and BYU beat Oklahoma. But since when did logic and the NCAA ever really go together?... Notre Dame won yesterday but they did not cover the spread. Even with the win - many fans jumped off the Fighting Irish bandwagon. I know that Charlie Weis doesn't set the spread but his job nonetheless is to cover it (no I'm not bitter - much)... At gametime - Army was an 8.5 favorite over a fellow 1-A competitor Ball State. When was the last time Army was favored by that many points? With Army and Air Force victories yesterday - the service academies are now a combined 5-4 on the season. Good for them...

Notre Dame

I've been meaning to comment on Notre Dame for some time now. When Charlie Weis first got the job as head coach for the Fighting Irish - I wrote that Weis would be a success but I also wrote that he'd have to accomplish 3 things to get that success. Weis is probably failing at the 3rd criteria I listed:

3. The third thing Weis has to do may be the most difficult. He has to develop a media friendly personality.

Who knows - maybe Weis is a natural media darling. Unfortunately, it is impossible to tell from his time in New England because head coach Bill Belichick always kept his assistants under media blackout. If Weis has problems with the media - he better start working on improving his communication skills now because if truth be told - Ty Willingham's brusque way with the media probably sealed his fate.

Yes Notre Dame has been a complete failure on offense this season. They rank dead last in total offense among the 119 Division 1-A teams. Powerhouses like Eastern Michigan, Rice and Temple have all averaged more than double the total yards per game than Notre Dame has managed. As Mike Huguenin of Rivals.com has noted - "The Irish offense is rancid."

Notre Dame won't be good this year and much of the problems with the offense can be solved by Charlie Weis just acknowledging this and going with a basic offense that allows Jimmy Clausen and the other young players on the offense a chance to learn on the job without trying to do to much in terms of trick plays and complicated schemes. Right now Charlie Weis has been making the offensive woes worse by trying to be too cute with his playcalling and game planning.

Much of the offensive problems could be solved and will be solved as the young players mature but the problems Weis has exhibited in dealing with the media could prove to be his fatal flaw.

Notre Dame has had 2 straight seasons with final rankings in the top 15. Those two seasons of glory in the sun should have allowed Weis to stockpile lots of goodwill that could be used during the trying times they are now experiencing. Why is it that some people have trouble being nice when on top?

As Jeff Carroll pointed out - Weis' problem is hubris. Saying things like Michigan State would never beat one of his teams is a good example. Al Sweragen said that the easiest way to make God laugh is to announce your plans. Michigan State beat Notre Dame 31-14 last Saturday. God wasn't the only one laughing. Notre Dame has become a joke. However, instead of good natured ribbing the laughter is almost mean-spirited. People are enjoying the plight of the Irish and Charlie Weis getting his comeuppance.

Weis is the first Notre Dame grad to coach the football team since Hugh Devore and Weis is also be the first Fighting Irish coach to lose 5 straight games since Hugh Devore too.