The Kind-Hearted Smart Aleck

Going into the final weekend in the college football regular season and with all the non-conference games out of the way (excluding the coming bowl games, of course), I thought I'd do my best to rank the six major conferences. The rankings could change depending on the bowl outcomes, of course. First off, I'll run down the conference standings. To the left of the team's standing in the conference will read one of the following symbols: * (bowl eligible), ? (bowl eligible with win this next week, bowl ineligible if they lose) or x (bowl ineligible). Here we go... ACC *1. Virginia Tech (11-1) *2. Clemson (9-3) *3. Florida State (8-4) *3. Georgia Tech (8-4) *3. Virginia (8-4) *6. North Carolina (7-5) *6. North Carolina State (7-5) *8. Miami (Florida) (6-6) *8. Wake Forest (6-6) x10. Boston College (4-8) x11. Duke (3-9) x12. Maryland (2-10) Big XII *1. Oklahoma State (10-1) *2. Kansas State (9-2) *2. Oklahoma (9-2) *4. Baylor (8-3) *5. Texas (7-4) *6. Miss...

I don't get into many heated arguments. That's just not my style. I learn, sometimes the hard way, who it is I probably shouldn't discuss serious maters with, as they may lose their cool very quickly and there's rarely anything productive that should arise from the conversation. Over time, I've learned whom I can actually discuss serious matters with and these talks result in very civilized discourse where both I and the other party are able to hear viewpoints which differ from our own and we can potentially expand upon the knowledge and opinion we possessed going into the discussion. Usually, there isn't a definite winner in such "arguments" or discussions. The two people may have different viewpoints, share their opinions, question the other's and at the end of the day admit that while the other made some good points, their beliefs were unswayed, so they'll have to agree to disagree. Perhaps this is why I can irritate people when engaging i...

Ex-Florida Gator head coach Urban Meyer made it official yesterday that he will be the new coach at Ohio State. Living near Columbus, I've been hearing/reading about this almost non-stop since it was announced. In my opinion, it's a great hire. While Meyer's health may be reason to worry some, for the time being, this hire should bring a great deal of excitement to an area that loves their football and is going through a very disappointing, scandal-filled, 6-6 season. Some naysayers have claimed that Meyer can't be successful as a college coach without Tim Tebow. This is ludicrous. Tim Tebow was a great college football player, but was not the reason for Urban Meyer's success. Let's look over Meyer's resume. He got started at Bowling Green in 2001 and led the Falcons to an 8-3 record, which placed them 2nd in the MAC. He finished after his second season there, when he led the team to a 9-3 record and a 3rd place finish in the conference. In two years at ...

I watched the BCS Countdown show on ESPN this past Sunday night, where college football "analysts" Craig James and Rod Gilmore laid out their top ten rankings. Following their 41-17 loss to top-ranked LSU, James kept 10-2 Arkansas at #3 in the country, as their only two losses were to the before-mentioned LSU Tigers and #2 Alabama. Eh, what? Arkansas is a good team. They've had a very solid year under head coach Bobby Petrino, but at this point in the season, they have not proven themselves of being #3-worthy. Let's look at their resume, shall we? Arkansas' non-conference schedule consisted of I-AA Missouri State, 1-10 New Mexico, 3-8 Troy (whom they beat by a mere 10 points) and 6-6 Texas A&M (whom they beat by 4 points). I won't even include Missouri State in this equation, as they're not of the same division as Arkansas, but the other three non-conference opponents are a combined 10-24 (.294) and the Razorbacks beat two of them by 10 points or f...

Never did I think I'd receive such a lovely e-mail and be defriended due to poll results I posted on my Facebook page. I read about this very poll at the following site - http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/11/21/fox-news-viewers-less-informed-people-fairleigh-dickinson_n_1106305.html?ref=fb&src=sp&comm_ref=false The full poll results can be read at this site - http://publicmind.fdu.edu/2011/knowless/ What was the headline regarding this very poll? That regular Fox News viewers are less informed due to the network's stories and commentary than if they didn't watch the news at all. The poll focused on three questions. The first pertained to the protests in Egypt which helped bring down the regime there. The question asked if the protests were successful in attaining this very goal. Of twelve prominent sources (NPR, The Daily Show, Sunday Morning Political News Show, National Newspaper, Political Blog/News Website, National News Broadcast, CNN, MSNBC, Talk Ra...

I really wish the Broncos' defense would cut it out. For the fourth time in Tim Tebow's six starts with the club this year, the Broncos yielded 15 points or less, in holding San Diego to 13. But, of course, it was Tim Tebow and that explosive Broncos offense which was the main reason for the team's 16-13 overtime victory. I'm sure the defense is getting a little tired of Tebow being heralded so much, as they've hardly gone noticed in the team's recent victories. Excluding the 38 points the Broncos scored against Oakland, they have put up the following point totals with Tebow under center: 18, 10, 17, 17 and 16. Yup, that's it. Can we please just tell it like it is? Tim Tebow is not losing games for the Denver Broncos. That's it. He's been a more athletic version of Trent Dilfer when he was with the Baltimore Ravens. Tebow isn't the fastest guy in the league, but is a big, powerful runner, who has turned the ball over just one time in his six st...

...and it wasn't even that close, as the Eagles scored a touchdown with 32 seconds left to make the score appear a little more respectable. The really sad part about this game (if you're an Eagles fan) is the fact Philadelphia led 10-0 at one point, only to get outscored 38-3 until the final score with about half a minute left on the game clock. Last week was arguably the Eagles' best all-around defensive effort, as they shut down the New York Giants, holding them to 29 yards rushing and 10 points. No such luck this time around. Philly's run defense played pretty well, as they allowed just 2.9 yards per carry, but their secondary didn't fare well. Tom Brady had a field day for the Patriots, completing 24 of 34 pass attempts for 361 yards, 3 touchdowns and a quarterback rating of 134.6. Offensively, sure, the Eagles got their yards, but only 20 points (13 through the first 59:28). Andy Reid largely abandoned the running game, as LeSean McCoy carried the ball ju...

Just when I thought the Michele Bachmann team, and the right-wing in general, couldn't get any crazier, I read this article (and saw the video clip). Michele Bachmann's Iowa Campaign Chair, Tamara Scott, stated that the legalization of gay marriage would lead people to marry objects, such as women marrying the Eiffel Tower. I'll let you watch the clip for yourself. Watch it a few times, as I know when I first watched it, I couldn't believe what I had just heard, so I had to watch it again. Here it is - http://www.towleroad.com/2011/11/tamarascott.html So, how was it for you? Can't determine whether it's real or a joke? I thought the same thing at first, but given Bachmann, Scott and Bob Vander Plaats' record of anti-gay statements, I think it's safe to say this video is legit and the speakers are wanting to be taken seriously. There is such a thing as "object sexuality," where a person is sexually attracted to an object, but this has noth...

I'm honestly not certain how I feel about this. It seems that a majority of fans and "experts" alike believe pitchers have the Cy Young award and since they don't play every day, shouldn't be given consideration for the MVP award. I'd say that I typically agree with this philosophy, but think there are exceptions and while I'm not 100% certain I believe Verlander was deserving of the MVP this year, if there was ever a year for a pitcher to have won it, it would have been this one. The only thing that's kind of holding me back right now isn't the fact that Verlander is a pitcher. It's the fact that the Detroit Tigers had a very good offense this year. Verlander put up incredible numbers, going 24-5 with a 2.40 ERA and 250 strikeouts to win what is known as the AL pitching triple crown. Like I said, the guy had outstanding numbers and if I were voting on the "best" player in the American League this year, I would most certainly have vot...

I love how fickle and hyperbolic many fans and analysts are. I also love how quarterbacks seem to be the epitome of the false dilemma informal fallacy. They're either the savior or the scapegoat. There's seemingly nothing in-between, even though there obviously is. This has happened in Denver in recent weeks. After inserting Tim Tebow at quarterback, the Broncos are 4-1 and a game back of AFC West-leading Oakland. So, it's therefore obvious that Tebow is the sole reason for the Broncos rise in the standings, right? Last night, Vince Young led the Philadelphia Eagles to a 17-10 victory against the New York Giants to bring them within two games of NFC East-leading New York and Dallas. He must be the reason for the big win last night, right? Sorry, wrong in both cases. Outside of their 38-point effort against the Oakland Raiders, the Broncos have scored the following point totals in Tebow's other four outings: 10, 17, 17 and 18. That's right. In four of their five ...

It was announced on Friday that Eagles' starting quarterback, Michael Vick, and starting receiver, Jeremy Maclin, wouldn't be playing in last night's game against the New York Giants. With the Eagles at 3-6 and likely needing to win at the very least, 6 out of their final 7 games to have a chance at making the playoffs, this bit of news seemed to be the end of the Philadelphia Eagles this year. Vince Young was going to make his first start of the season. His only pass attempt prior to last night's game resulted in an interception against the Washington Redskins. Fast-forward to last night's game - There is no quarterback controversy in Philadelphia. Vince Young did throw 3 interceptions and had a fourth reversed via replay. The Eagles offense wasn't nearly as crisp as they have been for most of the season, rushing for only 136 yards and 60 of that coming on one run by tailback LeSean McCoy late in the 4th quarter to seal the 17-10 victory for the Eagles. I d...

That's right. Chicago Bears wide receiver, Earl Bennett, has been warned by the NFL that if he wears his orange shoes from here on out, he'll be fined at least $15,000 by the league and removed from the game he's playing in and not allowed back in until he's changed shoes. Two words - who cares? There. I've said my bit. Players get fined for helmet-to-helmet hits, perhaps some form of taunting, missing team practice, speaking out against the referees, etc. Now let's add orange-colored shoes to the mix. If this were a multiple-choice exam, I'd be asking, "Which one of these does not belong?" Helmet-to-helmet hits, right? This is when I gave the ol' juvenile yank-yank motion. Yank-yank. There we go. Much better... http://sports.yahoo.com/nfl/blog/shutdown_corner/post/NFL-to-Earl-Bennett-You-wear-orange-shoes-you-?urn=nfl-wp12127

The BCS Poll just came out following a crazy weekend in college football, which saw four top ten teams fall, including three of the top five (#2 Oklahoma State, #4 Oregon and #5 Oklahoma, along with #7 Clemson). I'll admit, I've never been a proponent of the BCS system. I have always been in favor of a playoff. I love bowl games and don't think we should do away with those completely, but have always been in favor of an 8-team playoff. For those unfamiliar with the awful system, the BCS is comprised of three polls: The Harris Poll, USA Today Poll and the Computer Poll. The average is taken from the three polls to give the teams their ranking. Let's look at the rankings this week, poll-by-poll: Harris Poll 1. LSU 2. Alabama 3. Arkansas 4. Stanford 5. Virginia Tech 6. Oklahoma State 7. Houston 8. Boise State 9. Oregon 10. Oklahoma 11. Michigan State 12. Georgia 13. South Carolina 14. Wisconsin 15. Kansas State 16. Michigan 17. Clemson 18. Penn Stat...

I just wanted to remind fans and announcers especially, that face guarding is legal in both college football and the NFL. It all comes down to contact. So long as a defender doesn't make contact with an intended receiver, he doesn't have to turn around to play the ball. I can't tell you how many times every week I hear announcers talk about face guarding being a penalty. It's not. I even heard one announcer yesterday state, "If the defender doesn't turn around and play the ball, the ref will call pass interference every time." That's simply not true. Courtesy of referee Bill LeMonnier, he says this with regard to the rule at the college level (answered on 8/12/13): "NCAA rules on pass interference require the face guarding to have contact to be a foul. No contact, no foul by NCAA rules." In the NFL rule book, this is written:  "Actions that constitute defensive pass interference include but are not limited to: (a) Contact by a ...

This will be short and I know that no one cares, outside of a friend of mine and I, but eh, whatever. So, I'm in a 14-person fantasy football league. Yes, the draft was...fun...or something. I think with my final pick, I drafted Joe Montana. Also, out of 14 teams, I had the final draft pick of the 1st round and the first pick in the 2nd. The league's points were geared toward the quarterback, especially ones whom completed a lot of passes. This is why, even though he was expected to miss a couple games at season's start, I decided to draft Peyton Manning. The benefits in the long-run definitely outweighed the hindrances in the short-term. With my second pick, I drafted Matt Schaub and thought I'd be pretty well set as of Week 3 or 4 at the quarterback position. Well, word soon spread in the next 2-3 weeks that Manning wasn't improving any and may wind up needing surgery and to miss the rest of the season. Yeah, that happened. I picked up Oakland Raiders' quart...

The short answer? No. Yes, that's contrary to popular opinion, but like all the other major conferences it seems, the SEC is down this year. Yes, the SEC is currently home of the top 3 teams in the country, in LSU, Alabama and Arkansas, but outside of those three teams, the SEC is fairly average this year. Georgia has bounced back nicely following their 0-2 start. South Carolina is currently 9-2, but not as good as their record indicates I don't believe. I don't believe Auburn is as good as their 7-4 showcases. Heck, if I want to go there (and I do), I honestly don't believe Arkansas is as good as their 10-1 record and #3 ranking would suggest. Florida is a disappointing 6-5 (3-5 in conference). Tennessee has had another disappointing season, at 5-6 (1-6 in conference). Kentucky's 4-7 (1-6 in SEC play), Ole Miss has collapsed under Houston Nutt this season, going 2-9 (0-7 in the SEC) and Mississippi State is a disappointing 5-6 as well (1-6 in conference play). Clos...

For anyone that missed it, former college football coach and current ESPN commentator (known for being a member of ESPN Gameday on Saturday mornings) said a naughty word during a live broadcast yesterday morning. As the Gameday crew was in Houston to preview the SMU/Houston game, they saved the predictions for that game at the very end of the show. As Mr. Corso is known for doing, he teased the home fans and said something along the lines of, "How can you pick against SMU? Their colors are red, white and blue. U.S.A.! U.S.A.! U.S.A.," before he said, "Ah, f**k it" and placed on his Houston Cougars' mascot-esque head gear. A clip of that moment can be viewed here - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6kmMdyJ89sY (and elsewhere) Corso released a short apology about a half hour later. Since that moment, I've read many comments regarding the incident, most of which were fairly positive, finding the slip up to be rather humorous. There were a few individuals whom ...

Here we go again. The Tim Tebow-led Denver Broncos came back to defeat the New York Jets 17-13 on Thursday night and the majority of the jabber is concerning Tebow's magical final drive which vaulted his Broncos to a victory. While that final drive was great, let's not look past the rest of the team and the game. First off, before that final drive. all Tebow did was lead the Broncos to one field goal. The only other touchdown they scored was via an Andre Goodman 26-yard interception return. Points wise, the Broncos have as much to thank New York Jets' quarterback Mark Sanchez for as they do their own quarterback, one Tim Tebow. In all seriousness, the Broncos had no business being in this game. The Jets turned the ball over twice, one which led to a touchdown as mentioned above. Denver accumulated just 11 first downs in the game, compared to 22 for the Jets. They accounted for a mere 229 yards of total offense, almost 100 less than New York (318). Tebow was only 9 for 2...

Since I have battled epilepsy for approximately 26 of my 30 years (who knows, perhaps longer), perhaps I'm a bit more sensitive to this condition than most other people. However, I can't for the life of me understand why some people think that seizures or epilepsy in general are funny. I can sometimes understand cracking jokes about certain conditions, such as attention-deficit disorder. I saw a t-shirt which states, "They say I have A.D.D., which I don't understand. Oh, look! A chicken!" I admit, I find that pretty funny and while I don't necessarily find the condition itself to be at all humorous, I also think it's less sensitive a subject than many other conditions, given the fact it's not going to be fatal. That's the crossing line for me between what could potentially be funny without being offensive and going a bit too far and likely hurting others' feelings due to their sensitivities on the condition. I don't hear many jokes re...

I admit, I've never been a huge fan of comedian/actor Adam Sandler. I wasn't blown away by his performance on Saturday Night Live, his song about Hanukkah and there's just something about his voice that has always sounded like nails against a chalkboard to me. When I was a young lad, I did enjoy his film "Happy Gilmore," but quickly grew out of that. I was never too keen on "Billy Madison". I did enjoy "Wedding Singer," thought "Big Daddy" was more or less cute and found some parts of the stupid comedy "Airheads" to be funny (that was a long time ago, though. I'm not certain I'd still find it humorous). "The Longest Yard" I felt had some funny moments, but as is usually the case, wasn't nearly as good as the original. I have appreciated some of his more serious films, such as "Punch-Drunk Love," "Spanglish," "Anger Management" and "Funny People". I haven't b...

It's amazing how attached we can get to our pets. They become like family after a while. Of course, when buying a pet, the last thing thought about is how attached we will get to these very animals and through that, how difficult it will be to say our final goodbye. I, unfortunately, had to do that yesterday with my dog Tasha. She was an all-white Siberian Husky. I'm not sure how old she was, as she was rescued. It appeared as if she had been abused by her original owner, but through the years had seemed to improve in comfort and spirit. At first, she couldn't stand affection, but slowly warmed up to that before in the past couple years, she was nosing my arms in order to garner some attention. So, I'd like to say she ended up being happy, much happier than she was for her first few years. It all happened so fast. She had battled arthritis for a little while, but still found it in herself to go for short walks with me and my other dog. She'd attempt to play around...

Geez... For the second consecutive week and the third out of four starts, the Denver Broncos won with Tim Tebow at the helm, to help improve the Broncos to 4-5 on the year and just a game back of Oakland in the AFC West. Tebow for the game? He completed just two of eight pass attempts for 69 yards and a touchdown. He also rushed the ball 9 times for 43 yards. He was responsible for only 112 of Denver's 313 yards of offense. But, yes, the Broncos won. I've honestly never seen such stats in a NFL game before. The Broncos rushed the ball 55 times and threw it only 8. 87.3% of their plays were rushes. On the year, Tebow has completed 47 of 105 pass attempts (44.8%) for 605 yards. I honestly cannot believe such numbers for a NFL starting quarterback and that the team is actually winning. It'd be ridiculous to give Tebow much credit for the win, however. Lance Ball carried the ball 30 times for 96 yards. Knowshon Moreno carried it 4 times for 52 yards. Eddie Royal added 3 r...