In the Basement

I've been in the basement lately, literally and figuratively, so I haven't been able to keep updated on stuff.

I'll post pictures later, but let's just say we had our own "Metrodome" of sorts, instead of snow, insert water.

UConn: 89 and Counting

Who cares.

Okay, winning 89 straight in ANYTHING is pretty impressive. But, it's not the same. There is UConn...and nobody else. Yes, there's parity in women's ball just like men's, but there is one absolute dominate team, UConn.

Also, 88 is special to men's ball because it will never happen again. Not even Coach K can get a kid to stay in the program more than 2 or 3 years. Heck, Irving's only played a few games his freshman year at Duke, out for the rest of the season due to injury and will probably go Pro this summer. In order to win 88, you have to keep players around, and you can't do that anymore. The women's game doesn't have that same jump to the Pros.

RE: ?

Okay, let me chime in. If Tom Coughlin did tell him to punt it out of bounds, HE HAS TO PUNT IT OUT OF BOUNDS! It's DeSean freakin' Jackson. Mike Wallace, Devin Hester, you know, the fastest cats around do not touch the ball in those situations. There are 10 seconds left in the game. It goes out of bounds, Eagles take a knee, go to overtime.

Side Note: The Lions, Wings, and Pistons all went into overtime on Sunday. Detroit went 2-1.

Yes, Adam's right, the other 10 guys have to make a play. Unless they were all dogging it down the field thinking, "Why bother, he's just kicking it out of bounds anyway....CRAP!"

But here is the biggest issue: The Giants never should have been in this situation to begin with. That is pretty said Coughlin is taking it out on national TV on his punter when it's his own darn fault they gave up 4 TD's in the 4th quarter.

(Painful) Quote of the Day

Rick Reilly

You have everything you need to take your kid to an NFL game this Sunday? Program? Binoculars? Nunchucks?

Actually, if I were you, I wouldn't take my kid. I'd take Manny Pacquiao. NFL stadiums are rougher than sandpaper thongs lately.

These days, NFL fans make NHL fans look like Miss Manners. They're often buy-a-vowel drunk, spewing cuss words and looking to fight. And the men are sometimes worse.

Our Fellow American

All I can say is WOW!

Preach it, brother.

I'd like to drop a quote from the article, but really, how do I not copy and paste the entire thing?

The law is made for law-abiding citizens. The guy who you don't have to worry about robbing you, the guy who pays his taxes, the guy who has a job, the guy who's not interested in hurting people. He's not the rapist, he's not the killer. He's the one who's going to follow the law. Now, the law can say you can't have a gun, but the thug, gangster, rapist and criminal — the thief — they're not going to obey the law anyway. It doesn't even apply.

Basically, what you've done is, you've told the man who pays his bills and minds his own business, who's trying to protect his family and provide for his family, if you take away his gun [and] you give him a golf club or a baseball bat, or a knife, and if the criminal has a gun, he's going to win that battle 10 out of 10 times.

The real issue behind these people who are gun grabbers, the truth is — based on fact — the reason why is, they want control. They want control of the people. That's what socialism is and communism.

Punk Rawk Christmas

The worst word you can hear at the end of an NFL broadcast:

"Figure skating is next."

?

Just watched the end of the Eagles-Giants game where the punter, Dodge, kicked a line drive punt directly to DeSean Jackson, who missed it and then picked the ball up and ran for a TD, winning the game. As soon as Jackson got loose the commentators started criticizing the punter, and for good reason. But aren't there 10 other guys on the punt return team? Jackson should have been demolished as soon as he picked up the ball, but those guys are all going to get a pass because it was an awful punt.

Mass Effect 3

Vengeance By The Sons Of A King

Propaganda

TheDetroit News has an article up about the "changing" auto industry, based on the North American Car and Truck of the Year finalists. A quote:

This marks the first time all the car finalists have some degree of electrification. They were chosen from a field of 27 by automotive journalists from the United States and Canada.

"It says the consumer mindset for high efficiency has gone mainstream," said Tony DiSalle, General Motors Co. director of product marketing for the Volt.

But has it? The New York Times suggests otherwise. Sales of cars have fallen and what profitability automakers are seeing is coming from, you guessed it, SUVs and trucks. Heck, the first Volt was purchased by a Prius owner trading in his old ride. So when the Car of the Year results are finally announced, take it with a grain of salt. The internal combustion engine and real automobiles aren't going anywhere.

?

So, I take it the Big Ten's announcement about names, divisions, logos, trophies, etc didn't go over well? Honestly, since they decided geography was just too obvious a way to break up the divisions, I don't know how they could have done better. Speaking as someone who is not a fan of Michigan or Ohio State, calling the divisions "Schembechler" and "Hayes" would have been unacceptably offensive to at least 10 of the 12 teams. Maybe "Lakes" and "Plains" would work, but since they threw geography out the window that's tough.

Also, if they paid a bunch of money for that logo, they didn't get their money's worth.

Comic Cover of the Week: Deadpool Pulp #4

Quote of the Day

Darn that Favre, huh? He has spent most of his 20-year career beating the Lions, and the one time — one time— he doesn't play in their stadium, the Lions aren't the opponent.

-Bob Wojnowski, "Lions were big winners in Ford Field game", The Detroit News

Legends and Leaders

I could write a lot about the Big Ten's new logos and division names, but I think a picture will cover much of it:


I guess the names are okay, and at least they're not offensive to fans of any particular team. The logos are fine if not very impressive. I'm a little surprised they didn't change the name though. I'm probably as big a fan of tradition as anyone, but I can't see it as anything but ridiculous that a 12-team league will be calling itself the Big Ten while a 10-team league will (presumably) be calling itself the Big 12.

Metrodome Roof Collapses

Thor

Comic Cover of the Week: Thor: The Mighty Avenger #7

Bad Call

The NFL has fined Ndamukong Suh $15,000 for his hit on Jay Cutler on Sunday. Hit is too strong a word really, it was more like a push. Or a forearm shiver if you want to be technical. But whatever else you want to call it, it's a load of crap. It shouldn't have been a penalty and it's ridiculous to be fined for it. Maybe the NFL should issue the defense feather dusters so they can tickle the offense until they down the ball?

Sparty

?

Wasn't the effect of Michigan's coaching situation on recruiting just brought up here? Herbstreit says it will be a negative.

?

Just how many uniforms do the Ducks have?

UPDATE: Let's count:

1.


2.


3.


4.


5.


6.


7.


8.


9.


10.


11.


12.


Twelve. That's one for each game, and I'm sure they'll have an extra special one for the national championship game. Does that strike anyone else as excessive?

Michigan Man

Let me weigh in on the recent discussion of one Rich Rodriquez.

I am not retracting from my stance that Rich Rod should be replaced. Then again, this isn't three years ago where there was a wishlist of possible coaches.

But, since it appears the wishlist is now down to ONE possible coach, if you can't get him, keep Rich Rod. If you can't get Jim Harbaugh, then don't get anyone else. However, I still wouldn't be opposed to a Kirk Frentz from Iowa. I don't know a lot about the guys at TCU or Boise State right now, but their offense probably wouldn't be too far off of what Michigan currently has, so maybe that transition wouldn't be too difficult.

So, here is my updated list of possible coaches:

1. Jim Harbaugh
2. Rich Rodriquez
3. Kirk Frentz
4. Chris Peterson - Boise State (if he brings the blue carpet)
5. Gary Patterson - TCU

I'd still be surprised if AD David Brandon strung everyone along until AFTER the Bowl game. Maybe we could move that date up to next week and end this drama. Why go through another 3-4 weeks of speculation? Plus, does it help recruiting? Probably hurts.

Side note: I still don't miss Lloyd Carr.

LPGA scraps 'female at birth' policy

Finally!!!

I no longer have to be a "female at birth" in order to join the LPGA. Now I know what I REALLY want for Christmas.

I've never used this acronym, but if it doesn't belong because of this story, then when does it?...

W-T-F?

Rome Take 11-30-10

Another Memorable Cardinal Presser

No, it wasn’t Denny Green good as some of you seem to think, but Cardinals Q.B. Derek Anderson snapping after last night’s loss during questioning from the media was pretty epic. Look, I know plenty of you are insulted that this guy would display any emotion other than rage at the end of another humiliating blowout. And that laughing at the end of a game like that speaks to his utter lack of desire and competitiveness….blah blah blah. You know what, probably not. I don’t know what Deuce Lutui hit him with on the sideline. Maybe it was something like, “Hey D,; how funny is it that we’re the Monday nighter? How bent do you think ESPN and the rest of America are? That’s funny. Maybe he was just picking his guy up with some gallows humor. Unfortunately that’s the issue: we don’t know, because Anderson wouldn’t tell us. Although Philip Rivers and Tom Brady wouldn’t do it, I don’t have a huge problem with Derek Anderson cracking a smile on the bench. He’s Derek Anderson. My problem is with how he reacted to being questioned about it. He put on a clinic on how not to handle that situation.

It was like a step by step guide on exactly what not to do at the podium. Step one, laughing at the end of a blowout loss during a disastrous year, does look pretty bad; when asked about it, throw the ‘It’s none of your business card. Then, if that doesn’t deter the questioner, start lying. Say you weren’t even laughing. Then, when caught in your lie, aggressively starting pounding away with, “That’s fine. That’s fine”. And be sure to say it no less than a dozen times. Then when it’s clear you’re wrong, and backed into a corner, try to fight your way off the ropes. Come out swinging. Switch from defense to offense. Attempt to intimidate and back down the questioner; mix in some profanity. Whine about how hard you work. And then if all that doesn’t work, take a knee and just bust out of there. What a perfect fail by Anderson. Every read he made at the presser was the wrong one and every pass he threw was picked and housed. Only after falling behind by 9 T.D.’s did he finally throw one into the stands, pull the rip chord and just eject from the whole proceeding. Just remember, D.A. the cover-up is always worse than the crime.

Comic Cover of the Week: Baltimore: The Plague Ships #5

One More Thing

Yes, I'm thrilled that a deserving team, like maybe UConn, will be in a BCS bowl instead of the Spartans. That should make for great television.

Preemptive Strike

To head off some ribbing later, I totally expect MSU to lose to Duke tonight. The Spartans always play a tough early season schedule, and they mostly suck doing it. I probably won't even check in on the game, though that's as much because of how late it's being played.

I think this does make a notable point about college football vs. college basketball though. The equivalent football matchup in Week 3 of the season would be a huge deal, likely having a major impact on the national championship picture. The basketball matchup will be a footnote when the tournament comes around. I don't think that's better.

?

Lions QB Shaun Hill has a broken finger. Do you think the Lions will let Drew Stanton start, or will they bring someone out of the stands to play QB instead?