Monthly Archives: December 2007

Tuesday Potpourri

Happy Birthday
Today is December 11 and it is Max Baucus’ 66th birthday! Besides being the senior senator from Montana, Senator Baucus is the “senior” member of the delegation. I checked his schedule to see if there was a party with cake, punch, and gifts planned, but it only showed December 10. Scary thought – Max will need to serve another 44 years to break Strom Thurmond’s record as the oldest serving senator.

Evel Knievel
God bless Evel! Yes, I am one of the children of the 60s and 70s who tried to jump stuff on my bike after seeing Evel Knievel do it on TV. After making a fountain with a garden hose to imitate his Caesar’s Palace jump in the late 60s, I crashed. I decided not to jump things.

Sick of Vick
Did anyone get a little sick of the life and times of Michael Vick during the Monday Night Football (MNF) telecast last night? It was quite a coincidence that on the day Vick was sentenced to 23 months in Federal prison, MNF was in Atlanta to see Vick’s former team (Falcons) play the Saints. Of course this game was scheduled long before Vick got into trouble, or they probably would not have chosen Atlanta for MNF. It’s time to move on folks.

Politics in the Mail
We received another piece of political snail mail the other day. It’s nice to feel wanted, even when you don’t have a penny to give away! On the front of the envelope was written, “Brian Schweitzer hopes you throw this letter away.”

Since I really don’t care for Brian, I plan on keeping the letter forever just to really tick him off.

I really could not take time to read the six pages of information as they broke Jack the Blogger’s rule of keeping it simple. It had something to do with giving him a pink slip AND sending them money.

The good news is I received the 2008 George and Laura Bush calendar from the Republican National Committee…without giving a penny. The calendar appears to be smaller than the 2007 calendar. Maybe it’s sized based on contributions?

Weekend in Sports

Oh yes, college championship football will be alive and well next weekend, at least for the smaller college divisions. Too bad Division I football does not have playoffs.

NAIA:
Carroll College-After a week to rest, the Carroll College Saints will take on the University of Sioux Falls Cougars in the NAIA Championship Game on December 15 in Savannah, Tennessee. Both teams come into the contest undefeated with Sioux Falls standing at 13-0 and Carroll at 14-0. Kick-off will be at 11:00 a.m. (Montana time). I don’t know what network will carry the game in Montana. Go Saints!

Football Championship Subdivision:

It will be Appalachian State and Delaware in the Football Championship Subdivision (formerly Division I-AA) title game. The Montana Grizzlies were beaten in the first round of this division by Wofford. Wofford lost the next week to Richmond (21-10) and Richmond lost to Appalachian State.

The championship game will be televised Friday night at 6:00 p.m. (Montana time) on ESPN2. Appalachian State’s Armanti Edwards rushed for 313 yards and four touchdowns and threw for 182 yards and three more scores to lead his team to the finals.

It will be hard for Delaware to stop Edwards. But that’s why they play the game.

Division II:

The Northwest Missouri State University Bearcats beat Grand Valley State 34-16 victory Saturday night to move to the Championship game. Grand Valley went into the game with a 40 game winning streak. The Bearcats’ Xavier Omon rushed for 292 yards in freezing rain, a 17 degree night, with the wind chill around zero. The Bearcats will face Valdosta State in the title game. The game is at 10:00 a.m. (Montana time) next Saturday and will be televised in ESPN2. It appeared the coach of Grand Valley conceded the game late in the fourth quarter when during a time out, he sprinted across the field and congratulated the Bearcat coach. Weird.

Division III:

Mount Union (Ohio) will play Wisconsin-Whitewater on Saturday at 2:00 p.m. (Montana time) for the Championship. It will be televised on ESPN.

The Heisman:

Quarterback Tim Tebow of Florida won the Heisman Trophy Saturday night becoming the first sophomore to win the award. Darren McFadden of Arkansas was second. Colt Brennan of Hawaii was third, and Chase Daniel of Missouri finished fourth.

Professional Football:

I am 14-1 going into tonight’s Monday night game. Picking the winners with a dart board seemed to work well for me this weekend. My aim was much better!

Michael Vick received 23 months in prison for his part in the dog fighting deal. See ya!

Oh boy. The Kansas City Chiefs went to Denver. That’s about all they did as they lost 41-7. Note to friends and family thinking about sending me some Chiefs merchandise for Christmas: Please don’t. I’m really too embarrassed to display it this year. Thanks!

The Patriots ran over the Steelers 34-13 in a game many folks picked for the Patriots to lose because the Steelers had a tough defense and a good running game. The Pats host the Jets next week.

The Flex Schedule game on NBC Sunday night was a blow out with the Colts beating the Ravens 44-20. So much for picking the best game of the week, NBC.

Next week the NFL Network takes two games from us cable viewers, one on Thursday (Broncos at Texans) and one on Saturday (Bengals at 49ers). Right now it looks like the best game next Sunday will be Jacksonville at Pittsburgh.

The AFC Playoff Picture:

1 New England 13-0 (already in playoffs)
2 Indianapolis 11-2 (already in playoffs)
3 Pittsburgh 9-4
4 San Diego 8-5
5 Jacksonville 9-4
6 Cleveland 8-5
Teams 7-10 are still alive:
7 Buffalo 7-6
8 Tennessee 7-6
9 Denver 6-7
10 Houston 6-7

The NFC Playoff Picture:

1 Dallas 12-1 (already in playoffs)
2 Green Bay 11-2 (already in playoffs)
3 Seattle 9-4 (already in playoffs)
4 Tampa Bay 8-5
5 N.Y. Giants 9-4
6 Minnesota 7-6
Teams 7-14 are still alive:
7 Washington 6-7
8 Arizona 6-7
9 Detroit 6-7
10 New Orleans 5-7
11 Carolina 5-8
12 Chicago 5-8
13 Philadelphia 5-8
14 Atlanta 3-9

Have a great sports week!

Faith in America

Republican Presidential Candidate, Mitt Romney, gave his “Faith in America” speech this morning at the George Bush Presidential Library and Museum in Houston.

Some might be calling it the, “Stop the Bleeding” speech. Mike Huckabee has made tremendous gains in the polls in the last month, and Romney needed to do something to help bail the water off his sinking ship. Although Huckabee is now the flavor of the month, he is now getting hit from all sides due to his frontrunner status.

Romney is a member of the Mormon Church and this has raised concerns among some conservatives. Some polls show that Romney is losing the Conservative Christian votes to Huckabee, a Baptist Minister.

It was a fine speech by Romney. Will it change votes? I doubt it. He answered some questions, but I don’t believe his Mormon faith is his biggest problem. At least it’s not to me.

Romney has been tagged as a flip-flopper on abortion. He was once Pro-Choice and now he is Pro-Life. When it can be shown that Presidential candidates change their views, some people believe they are changing their views for votes.

Then Romney had problems with illegal aliens working at his mansion. Rudy Giuliani said that Romney was running a “Sanctuary Mansion.” Romney ended up firing the contractors who employed the illegals after they were found working there again.

Then, the one thing that turned this writer off was when Romney defended his sons’ lack of military service and said they were serving their country by helping get him elected. How were they serving their country? By taking a recreational-vehicle tour to all 99 Iowa counties. Of course, he said it, and then apologized for it, but the horse was already out of the barn.

Romney came to Montana for a speech to the Montana GOP. He seems to have the best organization here in the state with some well-known people helping out his campaign. I’ve also heard that Ron Paul supporters are signing up to participate in Presidential Preference Caucus on February 5, 2008, to determine who earns the support of Montana’s delegates to the national convention. There are some Huckabee folks out there, too.

Right now it appears Montana’s support is between these three, but oh how times can change.

Beer and Nachos

Heartbreaker!

A man and woman were getting ready to see the Steelers play the Bengals at Heinz field in Pittsburgh Sunday night. They stopped off for some beer and nachos at the concessions and then headed to their seats. He was wearing a Mean Joe Greene Pittsburgh jersey. The 21-year-old female was wearing the Bengals’ Chad Johnson jersey. All of a sudden, they were arrested by the FBI, county sheriff’s deputies and Steelers security personnel.

Now they get to come back to Montana to answer to bank fraud charges. Ouch!

Must have been the Bengals’ jersey.

Powerful

The Billings Gazette ran a story that was published over the weekend about the fundraising efforts of U.S. Senator Max Baucus – and what an effort it is! The Gazette reported that over 90% of his donations for his 2008 election have come from outside of Montana. Yes, over 90%, and more out of state money than any other senator running for reelection in 2008 – a record to be darn proud!

Was I surprised? Nope. This is normal for Baucus. He’s received the majority of his campaign donations from outside Montana during his last three elections. Back in 2005, it was reported that Max “assembled” (locked?) 50 lobbyists in a room at a D.C. restaurant and asked (demanded?) them to each raise $100,000 for his reelection. What did they get for raising $100,000 each? Better yet, what did they “not” get if they did not raise $100,000 each? Hmmmm.

Sure this was probably legal. But ethical? That is in the eye of the beholder.

One would think that Montanans would grow tired of sharing their senator with New York, Los Angeles, San Francisco, etc. This is another example of how politics has gone down the toilet in the United States.

It is all about winning the next election.

Of course, Max’s spokesperson said, “Max thinks there’s way too much money in politics.” That’s a textbook response (Politics 101) when you’re raising more money than any opponent could raise.

But there’s good news! After reading the article, I now understand what Max is “powerful” at: Fundraising!

Weekend in Sports

Montana Football

Heading to the Big Show! The Carroll College Saints are heading to the NAIA National Championship game after a 23-7 victory over St. Francis Saturday. Congratulations!!

The Saints will play the University of Sioux Falls (South Dakota), who beat Missouri Valley College 11-10 on Sunday in a weather-delayed game in Sioux Falls.

The NAIA championship game will be held at Savannah, Tennessee, on December 15. Go Saints!

Big Time College Football

Don’t read this if you are a fan of the BCS: #1 Missouri and #2 West Virginia both lost games on the final weekend of college football. This screwed up an already screwed up Bowl Championship Series (BCS).

Poor Missouri. It’s too bad they had to play the Oklahoma Sooners twice this year.

In January 2006, I commented about the 2005 College football system and why there needs to be playoffs. There were two undefeated teams, Texas and USC, that year. Things are much much worse this year. The BCS is a worthless system.

Here are the final BCS standings for 2007 bowl season:

1. Ohio State 11-1
2. LSU 11-2
3. Virginia Tech 11-2
4. Oklahoma 11-2
5. Georgia 10-2
6. Missouri 11-2
7. USC 10-2
8. Kansas 11-1
9. West Virginia 10-2
10. Hawaii 12-0

There are five BCS bowl games:

Rose Bowl: USC -Illinois
Sugar Bowl: Georgia-Hawaii
Fiesta Bowl: W. Virginia -Oklahoma
Orange Bowl: Virginia Tech – Kansas
BCS National Championship: LSU – Ohio State

So, if you are in the top 10 in the BCS, you should get a ticket and a big pay day to one of these bowls, right? Not so fast my friend, #6 Missouri was left out of the BCS bowl show because the Conferences can only have two teams.

It’s too bad that the Big 12, which is the conference of Oklahoma, Missouri and Kansas, has so many good teams.

LSU is the first two loss team in the history of the BCS to play for a National Championship. Ohio State, who does not play in a conference championship and lost to #13 Illinois, will meet LSU in the National Championship game.

These BCS idiots replaced #6 Missouri with #13 Illinois (9-3). Illinois? Yes, the same Illinois that Missouri beat this season. Kansas is in, too. Kansas? Yes, the same Kansas that Missouri beat this year.

Missouri was invited to play Arkansas (8-4) in the Cotton Bowl on January 1. It’s a step up from last year for Mizzou, but the players and fans must be thinking, “What the hell?”

The BCS is a ridiculous system in which their members appear to make most of their selections in a smoky backroom and cuts deals to make the bowls money. The BCS is more about money and the tourism then it is about finding the best teams. The BCS has created controversy, not real champions.

The BCS bowl games are kind of like driving up on a car wreck. You don’t want to see it, but you will look anyway.

Until the football conference presidents and the university presidents decide there’s the need for a playoff system with at least 16 teams participating, the title of National Champion will ring hollow. There are plenty of plans out there. Pick one for 2008 and let’s choose a real champion. The fans will love it. So will the teams. You might even make more money with a playoff system.

Pro Football

I pretty much sucked with my picks this weekend. I am 8-7 going into Monday night’s game. I know I should have not used the dart board! The playoff picture is starting to take shape.

Here’s the AFC:

1 New England 11-0
2 Indianapolis 10-2
3 Pittsburgh 9-3
4 San Diego 7-5
5 Jacksonville 8-4
6 Cleveland 7-5
————————–
7 Tennessee 7-5
8 Buffalo 6-6

And here’s the NFC:

1 Dallas 11-1
2 Green Bay 10-2
3 Seattle 8-4
4 Tampa Bay 8-4
5 N.Y. Giants 8-4
6 Arizona 6-6
————————-
7 Detroit 6-6
8 Minnesota 6-6
The top six teams make the show.

The weekend started out early with the Thursday night game between the Packers and Cowboys that hardly anyone was able to watch.

Probably the biggest questions left this season is if New England can run the board and stay unbeaten and if Miami will go winless.

Next week, (Week 14) has a few good games: Pittsburgh plays at New England. San Diego plays at Tennessee. Kansas City goes to Denver. Oakland, which has won two in a row, plays at Green Bay.