'Twas the Night Before Christmas

This is pretty funny:

Shooting from the Hip

Here's just a bunch of things I've thought about lately:

1. The Lions are 10-4, yet who have they beat? Seriously, how many of us Lions fans would be optimistic if the Lions had to play at New Orleans in the first round of the playoffs? I don't care what their record is, I don't want any part of Drew Brees, especially at home in the playoffs.

2. Speaking of the Lions, I believe Matt Stafford is the best QB the Lions have had in 30+ years, if not their entire franchise. I believe you can make an argument for Stafford being a Top 10 QB in the league. However, I feel he is a MILE from being in the Top 5.

My Top 5 QB Rankings:
a. Brady
b. Manning
c. Rodgers
d. Luck
e. Brees

The 2nd tier (6-10) gets a little muddy. In no particular order
Roethlisberger (Jewerly)
Russell Wilson (he just wins games, dang it)
Eli Manning (not necessarily based on this year)
Matt Ryan (Not so much lately)
Matt Stafford

3rd Tier (11-15)
Romo (Basically another Stafford with huge weapons and high expectations)
Rivers
Flacco (Most road playoff victories of All-Time I believe. "PLAYOFFS?!")
Alex Smith (he wins games)
Kaepernick (2 straight NFC Conference Title games)

Here's the thing: Stafford's status seems to be pretty fluid. He easily fits into either a 2nd or 3rd Tier QB.

3. The Yankees just signed 3B Chase Headley for $52 million. Don't they already have a slightly expensive 3B in A-Rod?  Seems like something is going to change at the "hot corner."

UPDATE: As I'm writing this looking for correct information, A-Rod is now a full-time DH. That explains a lot.

4. I don't think the Spartan Nation will travel for their bowl game like they did last year for the Rose Bowl. Texas isn't Pasadena. Also, the fans didn't know if it might be another 25+ years before the next Rose Bowl, so they decided they better make the trip.

5. Mike and Mike had a great rant yesterday morning if "Die Hard" was a Christmas movie. Greeny was all for it, if not the greatest Christmas movie of all time. Golic was completely against the outrageous idea and basically said the movie was released in July, so "How can that be a Christmas movie?" He also said the movie "It's a Wonderful Life" was released January 7. Greeny responded, "January 7th? That's 360 days away from Christmas! That's about as far away from Christmas as you can get! That's not a Christmas movie!"

6. Les Miles. Can we stop talking about him. Do you realize he's 61 years old? Let's say he actually does commit to UM. He'll turn 62 during next season. How long do you think he's going to coach? What, he'll be the next Joe Pa and keep coaching till he literally dies? What do you think opposing recruiters are going to say to 5 Star recruits about Les Miles? "He'll be retiring soon. He won't be there when you graduate." How many successful D-1 coaches are still going at it at age 70 (I could see Saban still winning 'Ships at 70). Get over Les Miles.

7. Does the longer UM waits to name a coach a good thing or bad? I get all the worry about losing recruits. I think I like the patience. Wisconsin on the other hand practically had their next coach before their last one landed in Oregon. Speaking of Les Miles, he signed at LSU in January. So, they obviously didn't suffer the loss of many recruits hiring someone in January, probably because Saban already had them lined up. (I know, I know, LSU is a lot warmer than UM.)

8. Dave Wright is the man. He knows he way around house projects and has a sweet DeWalt Miter Saw. And yes, I have all of my fingers still.

Losing

Ryen Russillo made (approximately) this point the other day on the show: The 76ers, a team trying to lose, are 2-20. The Pistons, a team trying to win, are 4-19. That's kind of depressing if you're a Pistons fan.

?

How would an EMU alum who roots for Michigan feel about the Eagles upsetting the Wolverines at home last night? Conflicted?

It's not Harbaugh.

With the firing of Brady Hoke I thought my schadenfreude at the misfortunes of Michigan football would be done for the season, but the delusional Michigan fans who think they're going to get Jim Harbaugh to coach the team are really stretching it out. Thank you.