The Kind-Hearted Smart Aleck

I don't have a whole lot to say about this game. With the loss, the Eagles dropped to 1-4 and will likely need to go 9-2 the rest of the way through to have hopes of making the playoffs. They could get lucky and only need to win 8 of their next 11 games, but with the way they've played thus far, it's difficult to see them win 5 of their last 11, let alone 8 or 9. The game today was reminiscent of their other three losses. They made too many mistakes on offense, turning the ball over 5 times and they missed too many tackles on defense. Once again, their offense generated close to 500 yards, yet were able to come away with only 24 points. Their defense showed signs at times of coming to life, but it was too little too late, as when they showed these positive signs, they had already allowed 31 points. The offense looked great at times. Quarterback Michael Vick and tailback LeSean McCoy each rushed for close to 100 yards. Vick threw for 300 yard. The team moved the ball at wi...

Ah, how I love when some people's thoughts and beliefs are strengthened to the point of unbreakability when one consumes alcohol. It's true. I don't tend to have very strong opinions about a lot of things and if I do, I tend to not want to talk about them while drinking alcohol, especially if in an already loud bar environment. One of the bar owners at a pub I frequent has been known to get into some heated arguments with people, especially pertaining to politics. Last night, it was with regard to Carolina Panthers' quarterback Cam Newton. I wrote a blog a couple weeks ago or so that while I thought Newton is an extremely gifted athlete and is off to a great start in his NFL career, I'm not going to herald the guy the next great quarterback of the league like some sports writers and commentators have done. I don't even remember how the conversation started last night, but the bar owner was riding the Newton-hype train and I played things cool. I smiled and kep...

 Just recently, 2012 Republican presidential candidate Herman Cain spoke with the Wall Street Journal and said the following with regard to the Occupy Wall Street protests: "I don't have the facts to back this up, but I happen to believe that these demonstrations are planned and orchestrated to distract from the failed policies of the Obama Administration." Is that not the perfect way to open a sentence, especially if you're a politician? "I don't have the facts to back this up, but..." It's perfect. Cain is now exempt from any possible counters to his statement, regardless of how factual they are or the credibility of the source(s). If someone rebuts his claim with seemingly solid evidence, Cain can just say, "Weren't you listening? It's not like you proved me wrong. I never said I was right. I said, in plain English, that I did not have the facts to back up my statement. It seems to me you just wasted your time." If we coul...

On Monday, October 3rd of 2011, country music star Hank Williams Jr. showed the world that mathematics has been nothing but a lie and he's going to teach the world what math really is. On "Fox & Friends" Monday morning, co-anchor Brian Kilmeade asked Williams the following question: "Who's the enemy?" Williams responded with, "Obama and Biden! Are you kidding? The Three Stooges!" That's right, ladies and gentleman. President Barack Obama and Vice President Joe Biden are actually three people. It makes so much sense when you think about it. After a year and 364 days have passed in a child's life, he will turn 3 that following day. It's math. It's science. It's fact. This changes so many things when you think about it... Dr. Humble: "Well, it looks like you'll be having twins!" The Thorntons: "Really? Three kids? Holy crap!" Marv Albert: "The match-up is now set. We now know the tw...

I earned my degree in Psychology. I studied Freud. I've had some dreams that felt so real, I woke up sweating more than a pig walking a desert in Phoenix. There have been times when I go about my day and pause, thinking for a moment, "Wait, didn't I already do this?," because I dreamt it a night or two prior. So, yes, I am fascinated by dreams and believe they can tell us more than we'd think initially. However, if you happen to read a book or go to a site and check through interpretations of different colors, numbers, objects and other things, along with people, that may appear in dreams, some of the symbolism doesn't make a whole lot of sense to me. I'll give you five examples to go along with my commentary, before attempting to think along these same lines to make interpretations of my own for different images that could appear in one's dreams. Maroon - If this color appears in your dream, it's said to symbolize courage, bravery, heroism and ...

The Maze of Life I take a left, And another, I head straight, And then a right, A dead end staring back at me, I try to retrace my steps, Uncertain of where I’m going, Uncertain of where I am, I turn around, And see open space, Trying to recall my previous steps, But my memory seems distant, Hesitation then tossed to the side, As I march forth with reckless abandon, A look of determination fills my eyes, Uncertain of the beginning or end, I stop suddenly, Gaze about my surroundings, Heightened familiarity abounds, As I’m right back to where I started, A dead end staring back at me, I try to retrace my steps, Uncertain of where I’m going, Uncertain of who I am.

So, I got into an interesting discussion with the lady I've been getting closer to the past couple weeks or so. We've been asking random questions to one another to garner a better sense of who the other person is, what they're about, what they believe and perhaps gaining a better cognizance of what a long-term relationship would be like with the other. So, I asked what she felt constituted cheating. She wasn't too specific, but said she wasn't very jealous and would be alright if the guy danced with a girl, but that kissing would be pushing things a bit. She also agreed with me that lying is a form of cheating, because it's cheating the other person of truth. So, today we talked for a while and I'm not sure how to figure her out with regard to her drinking habits. She doesn't seem to drink very often, but seemed reluctant on going out to drink with me some night, because and I quote, she gets "crazy" when she drinks. The word "crazy...

In The Middle Nowhere to turn, The walls closing in, Being there from the start, Nearing is the end, Planted firmly in the middle, My eyes stare straight ahead, Cognizant of what will result, If to either side I sway, At equal speeds they close, Tension building in the process, The suffocation I begin to feel, The painful end seemingly inevitable, My rapidly beating heart races ever more, My pulse begins to quicken, Sweat dripping from my face, In my stomach knots form, The walls close in on me, Unable to wail or scream, Trapped with nowhere to turn, Stuck in the middle with no escape.

Chosen To Be… Dependent Upon The Uncontrollable In the perfect place, At the perfect time, Destined for glory, Destined for paradise, Born into this world, With no choice of my raisers, No choice of their wealth, No choice of my location, From birth until death, Told I was very fortunate, One of the very few, Who will experience such glory, Told I will be saved, If I believe in him, Told I will live eternally, If I worship him, Born into this world, With no choice of my raisers, No choice of their wealth, No choice of my location, Dependent upon the uncontrollable, We’re born into this world, All believing we are the chosen, Others damned for that beyond their control.

No, I'm not getting married, not yet anyway. I JUST read this article about the tradition of asking a woman's father for permission to marry his daughter. The gist of the article was to see if that very tradition has lost some steam through the years. Now, I admit, I'm not much of a traditionalist. I think some traditions are grand for the simple fact that they can bring families together, but at the end of the day, I think many of them are, for lack of a better word, silly. Given that, I got to thinking about the tradition of a man asking his father-in-law to be for permission to marry his daughter and yes, I'm going to say it - I think it's stupid. Mark it down. Quote me. Fathers of single daughters between the ages of 21 and 41, blacklist me. I'll give you some time. Given how old many of you are, I suppose I'll continue with this piece. The telegraphs should arrive at some point in the future. Okay, before you bash me for being disrespectful to a wom...

So, I watched the San Francisco 49ers/Philadelphia Eagles game in its entirety on Sunday along with the last few minutes of the Arizona Cardinals/New York Giants game. In the two games, there were two plays that stood out to me for how boneheaded they were on the players part (and in one case, the coach's as well). I'll start with the Eagles game. On a 3rd-and-goal from the 49er 1-yard line, tailback Ronnie Brown received the handoff and was stuffed at the 2-yard line. As he was being tackled to the ground, he threw the ball laterally and it was recovered by the 49ers. At first look, I was wondering what in the hell that guy was thinking. Afterward, I still am, but come to find out, it was a called halfback option play. He was told to throw the ball. Now, I doubt Andy Reid said to still throw the ball as he was being stuffed a yard behind the line-of-scrimmage and being taken to the grass. However, it was a called play. How stupid of a playcall is that? A halfback pass play o...

So, I just watched the 49ers/Eagles game. Wow... That's the first word that springs to mind. The Eagles could well be 4-0 at this time. The handled St. Louis fairly easily, beating the Rams 31-13. They led Atlanta 31-21 going into the 4th quarter, before collapsing and losing 35-31. They led the New York Giants 16-14 going into the 4th quarter, only to again collapse and lose 29-16. Again, today, Philadelphia led 20-3 going into halftime and found a way to lose 24-23. On the day? Vick threw for a career best 416 yards and two touchdowns to go along with 75 yards rushing. DeSean Jackson had 175 yards receiving. The team accumulated over 500 yards of offense. Jason Babin sacked Alex Smith three times. Alex Henery made three field goals. Vick completed passes to seven different receivers. They must have dominated, right? Now for the bad. Alex Henery missed two field goals, including a 34-yarder midway in the 4th quarter which would have put Philly up 26-17. On a 3rd-and-goal from th...

Having been born, raised, and resided there for 26 years, I tend to pay close attention to Nebraska football. There aren't any pro teams in the cornfield state. There may be an arena football team, college basketball, etc., but if you ask 100 random people in the state what one sport/team they pay closest attention to, I imagine 99 will say the Nebraska Cornhuskers' football team. Going into last night's primetime game against Wisconsin at Camp Randall Stadium, the Huskers were 4-0 and ranked 8th in the country. The Badgers greeted the Huskers into Big Ten play with a 48-17 thrashing of the Cornhuskers. After getting out to a 14-7 lead, Nebraska was outscored 41-3 the rest of the way through. Now, I don't think Nebraska could have won this game. However, I don't understand their strategy and play-calling. They abandoned their strength, the ground game, WAY too early. That is what vaulted them to a 14-7 lead. But, after Wisconsin scored a touchdown and had an ext...

So, I'm sitting here, reading some articles while listening to ESPN Sunday NFL Countdown and a decent-sized chunk of the program has been centered around Philadelphia Eagles' starting quarterback, Michael Vick, his two injuries in two weeks (concussion and bruised right hand) and how to better protect him. Trent Dilfer, Keyshawn Johnson and Mike Ditka all made good points - Dilfer suggesting Philly goes into more empty sets and give Vick quick pass options, Johnson and Ditka both agreeing that the Eagles should utilize their strong ground game to make for a more effective play action game and to move Vick outside of the pocket with bootlegs and waggles. Cris Carter then said something along the lines of, "It's not the coaches responsibility to protect Michael Vick. It's not the league's responsibility. It's not the offensive line's responsibility. The only person responsible is Michael Vick. The Eagles didn't sign him to a $100 million contract beca...

So, I just got back home from seeing the film "50/50," which just started airing in theaters today. I saw a preview for this a while back and immediately knew I wanted to see it. As far contemporary actors go, Joseph Gordon-Levitt ranks very highly for me and continues to climb the ladder. It seems that most people know this actor as the guy from the tv show, "3rd Rock From the Sun". He's done a bit since then. The only problem being that he's been the focal point of mainly independent films, which critics have hailed, but which haven't received much attention otherwise. These films include: "Brick," "Mysterious Skin," "The Lookout," etc. He also played a part in the smash hit, "Inception" and really hit it big as far as lesser-name films are concerned with his lead in "(500) Days of Summer". So, when I heard of him playing the lead character in a dramedy regarding a man battling cancer, I knew I was goin...

President Obama’s American Jobs Act seems to contain one component which has riled Republicans in Congress and that’s increasing taxes on families that make $250,000 or more per year. They have commonly referred to this component as “class warfare,” to which I have to chuckle. As it states at FactCheck.org, approximately 1 in 50 families bring home at least a quarter million per year, so that constitutes just 2% of the population. With the jobs bill, Obama would be raising taxes on the top 2%, while 98% of the population wouldn’t see their taxes increased. I’ve heard many members of the GOP state that the top 2% are the job creators and it would harm the economy if we were to raise their taxes. With the Bush tax cuts on the wealthy in tact, the unemployment rate is around 9.0% currently. When Bill Clinton took office in 1992, the unemployment rate was 7.5%. Clinton increased taxes to 39.6% and left office with unemployment being around 4.2%, the lowest since 1969. Under Clinton, 22.7...

I've been fighting a cold the past 2-3 days, so I wanted to get to bed early last night, but couldn't bring myself to do that. The reason? Baseball. It was the final day of the regular season and there were four big games played last night which could have decided the wild card teams from both leagues, as the Boston Red Sox and Tampa Bay Rays were tied for the final playoff spot in the American League and the Atlanta Braves and St. Louis Cardinals were tied for the wild card in the National League. In the first week of September, Boston led Tampa by 9 games and Atlanta led St. Louis by 8.5. For Tampa and St. Louis to tie Boston and Atlanta going into the last day of the regular season was remarkable by itself. What occurred last night was even wilder. St. Louis had no problems with Houston, defeating the hapless Astros 8-0, to put them 0.5 game ahead of Atlanta. The Braves led for most of their game against Philadelphia, up 3-1 until fairly late and 3-2 going to the top of th...

There's been a lot of talk about New York Mets' shortstop Jose Reyes and his decision to get pulled out of today's game if he got a hit in his first at bat, in order to better his chances of a batting title. He'll finish with a .337 average and Ryan Braun of the Milwaukee Brewers would need to go 3-for-4 tonight in order to surpass Reyes. Texas Rangers' starting pitcher C.J. Wilson tweeted that the Reyes move was "weak". Another called him a "coward". Many in the media are saying that the fans will be disappointed and have a different perception of Reyes because of this move and they won't forgive him for quite a while. I'm not sure I agree with the move Reyes made, but after hearing the media's comments, all I can think to say is, "Overreact much?" Geez. The New York Mets finished the year 77-85. They'll finish the year 4th in the N.L. West (out of five teams). They'll finish either 24 or 25 games back of 1st plac...

The craziest thing about the online world are the social networking sites. If someone is between the ages of 3 months and 87 years, chances are they have a Facebook account. Rumor has it that the Virgin Mary even has an account. The best thing about Facebook is you have the chance to re-connect with people you haven’t seen or spoken to for 10 years and there’s probably a good reason for that. Birthdays are the best. When it’s your birthday, the announcement is posted at the top right corner of the page. It’s amazing how 50 people you haven’t heard from for a year are suddenly your friends and wish you a happy birthday. It’s kind of creepy when you think about it. It’d be quite something to receive birthday cards in the mail from people you haven’t seen or actually spoken to for years. If you were married, that could really spell trouble: Beyonce: “Honey, why are all these women I don’t know sending you these cards? Chandra? Sophia? Gloria? Joan? Lois? Olita? Tara? Tasha? Joanne? Gina...

Whenever taking a public speaking course, the teacher will utter three words he or she refer to as space fillers - like, uh and um. These words are typically spoken when the speaker pauses for a moment and to prevent silence, even if for just a second, the student will resort to one of these space fillers in an attempt to prevent the momentary silence, in thinking they'll sound more intelligent without pause. Unfortunately, it has the direct opposite effect and makes them sound anything but more intelligent. People whom are referred to as valley girls tend to utilize the word "like" in an abundance and as most of us have heard at least one individual whom says "like" in such a manner, I think we can all say with confidence that this individual came across as the polar opposite of a brainiac. As that label tends to refer to women (valley "girl"), I think I've come across a similar space filler for males. That space filler? "...and shit". I...