The Kind-Hearted Smart Aleck

Over the weekend I heard a well-off, middle-aged man provide his thoughts on what he'd do if he became president, at least with regard to taxes. The idea he shared was that he'd eliminate federal income taxes and replace them with a national sales tax. While I cringed when first hearing this suggestion, I hadn't done thorough research on the subject yet, so I kept my mouth shut until doing so. Well, now that I have researched the matter, it appears as though my first reaction was indeed the correct one. It's estimated that the revenue in this country for 2019 will be approximately $3.44 trillion and that 50% of that, or $1.824 trillion, will come from individuals' income taxes. In order for us to make up that lost revenue, we'd need to increase the (exclusive) sales tax rate to 44%. The average state sales tax (including D.C.) is 5.1%. So an item which costs $20 before tax currently averages to cost $21.02 after tax. If a national sales tax were implemented, h...

On Friday's episode of Chris Russo's Sirius XM show Mad Dog Unleashed , CBS Sports chairman Steve McManus said the following: "From a television standpoint, you really root for the big teams. Last night's Kentucky outcome was not good for us and not good for TBS at all. Kentucky being the blue bloods that they are, and having the television draw that they have, that really hurt us. Kansas State winning - I have nothing against Kansas State as a school or a team - but that really hurt us." He added: "It's [Loyola-Chicago] a great story, I think Sister Jean is terrific, but to have an upstart like that go this far is not a disaster obviously, but not the bets of all scenarios for us." I'm sorry, but this is BS. Why does he think the NCAA Tournament is nicknamed March Madness? Because it's good for the predictable to always occur? I don't think so. The movies about college basketball that come out of Hollywood, do they tend to revolv...

It's almost here! Beginning tomorrow, March Madness will be on full display, and I can't wait! Since there isn't one or two teams that stand out to me this year, I'm thinking this tournament will be especially crazy (in a good way). Bring on the chaos! How wide open are things this year? I see these 9 teams all having a decent shot and running the table and winning the title: 2 Arizona 2 Duke 1 Gonzaga 1 Kansas 2 Kentucky 2 Louisville 1 North Carolina 3 UCLA 1 Villanova Here are four teams which have the skill and talent to make a run for it as well: 3 Florida State 5 Notre Dame 3 Oregon 4 West Virginia Lastly, here are a couple of potential sleepers: 7 Michigan 6 SMU As far as 1st round upsets go, here are ten games to keep your eyes on: 9 Michigan State over 8 Miami (Florida) 9 Seton Hall over 8 Arkansas 9 Vanderbilt over 8 Northwestern 10 Marquette over 7 South Carolina 10 Virginia Commonwealth over 7 St. Mary's 10 Wichita State ove...

I don't care how big of a football fan you are, college or pro, the playoffs this year have reeked more than a freshly sprayed skunk going on a shower strike. Let me run down the scores of these 13 games: NCAA Alabama 24 Washington 7 Clemson 31 Ohio State 0 Clemson 35 Alabama 31 Total score: 90 - 38 = 52 (averages of 30.0 -  12.7 = 17.3) NFL Houston 27 Oakland 14 Pittsburgh 30 Miami 12 Seattle 26 Detroit 6 Green Bay 38 NY Giants 13 Atlanta 36 Seattle 20 New England 34 Houston 16 Green Bay 34 Dallas 31 Pittsburgh 18 Kansas City 16 Atlanta 44 Green Bay 21 New England 36 Pittsburgh 17 Total score: 323 - 175 = 148 (averages of 32.3 - 17.5 = 14.8) Combined scores: 413 - 213 = 200 (averages of 31.8 - 16.4 = 15.4) Of the 13 playoff games that have been played thus far, only 3 have been decided by one possession (23.1%), while 8 have been decided by three possessions or more (61.5%). If we exclude the three one-possession games, the combined score of these 10 playoff ...

While hypocrisy does bother me a great deal, I'd be lying if I said I was never a hypocrite. Chances are each and every one of us has been hypocritical at one point in our lives or another. So, when I say I can't stand hypocrites, to not sound hypocritical in saying that, I'm just referring to those whom are hypocritical so frequently, people are often times shocked when they're actually consistent. In saying that, I find myself being slightly hypocritical when it comes to the tournament selection for March Madness. After the field of 68 was announced last night, I overheard ESPN basketball analysts Dick Vitale and Jay Bilas debating one another about which teams belonged in the tournament. Dick Vitale stood up for the little guy (Murray State in this case) and basically said, "It's all about winning games! Murray State won 25 in a row at one point! They went three months without a loss! I mean, are you kidding me?!? It's about winning games, bab...

I've been slightly perplexed since the start of the NCAA Tournament last week. Following the four play-in games last Tuesday and Wednesday, we were down to 64 teams, as has been the case for quite some time. As the games were being played on Thursday and Friday, many college basketball analysts and commentators referred to the games as 2nd round action, and Saturday and Sundays games as 3rd round action. I'm sorry, but until the brackets are expanded further and every team has to play another round of games, I'm not going to refer to these four play-in games as the first round. What, does that mean 60 teams have byes that round? That's quite the playoff system right there! I imagine the genius behind the format was thinking, "Okay, you know how in pro football, each conference has six teams in the playoffs, with the two best teams having byes in the first round? Let's times that by fifteen, where we have eight teams play in the first round and give sixty team...

I wonder when the last time was that the #1 overall seed in the NCAA Tournament went to the dance with six losses. That's what we have this year with #1 Louisville of the Big East. That provides the perfect illustration of this year's college basketball season. It has been one of chaos, one where the #1 teams have played musical chairs more often than Gerard Butler and Katherine Heigl star in awful movies, and one where it's difficult to see a favorite to win the championship. Once the brackets were announced on Sunday night, I began feeling a migraine coming on, and once I actually sat down to look at the brackets, that migraine was in full-effect. How crazy are the brackets? Let me tell you... - The Pittsburgh Panthers of the Big East, after finishing the year ranked #20 in the AP poll, were rewarded with an 8-seed, and will face 9-seed Wichita State in the West region. Eight-seeds would tend to go to teams ranked between 29 and 32, so Pitt's #20 ranking got do...