"Tebow Time"

I've been saying it on Twitter but wanted to post it here as well just so a year from now I could say "I told you so!" By November 17th 2012 Tim Tebow WILL NOT be a starting Quarterback in the NFL. Write it down.

I know he's great for the league as far as selling merchandise is concerned but he just can't play the position at this level. Yes, I am aware that the Broncos are 5-1 in their last six games but I credit that mostly to that defense. They've held their opposition to 15 points or less in four of those games. If you do that on a regular basis you will win a lot of games in this league. People have gone way overboard trying to credit Tebow for this run (no pun intended). We've even had people like Greg Doyle of CBS suggest he is an MVP candidate. If I had a MVP vote this year I would cast it for Peyton Manning long before I would do it for Tim Tebow.

"Tebow Time" to me is just like the wildcat offense. It won't work long term at this level. Defenses in the NFL are too fast and smart for it.
As always you can leave a comment here, reach me by e-mail or .

Obama's Turkey Pardon

Yesterday Barack Obama continued a White House tradition by pardoning a turkey.
 

 I'm not much of a Turkey person at all. To me this day is just about football and more football but I did want to take this opportunity to share a couple of classic scenes from The West Wing.
 
As always you can leave a comment here, reach me by e-mail or .

This date in sports history

On this date 25 years ago Bill Buckner had a crucial error in Game 6 of the 1986 World Series. He eventually did forgive the city of Boston for the brutal reaction the city and the media had to the error but it remains one of the most memorable moments in American sports history.
As always you can leave a comment here, reach me by e-mail or .

A year later Eric LeGrand continues to inspire

I haven't had the chance to post much lately but wanted to take a couple of minutes for this one.

Over the course of the past year I have had a few posts about Eric LeGrand and on the one year anniversary of his injury I wanted to remind everyone about donating to the "Eric LeGrand Believe Fund".

He told his story to Sports Illustrated this week. You can go read it here. It is hard not to be inspired. Steve Politi of the Star-Ledger also had a really well written story on LeGrand this week.

Make sure you follow him on twitter as well. He tweets pretty regularly.
As always you can leave a comment here, reach me by e-mail or .

Dan Wheldon killed at the Las Vegas Motor Speedway

People who know me know that I am a big fan of open wheel car racing.

I grew up a fan of Formula One but having lived in the US and Canada I have watched IRL/CART/Indy Racing. Earlier today Dan Wheldon died from injuries he suffered at the Las Vegas Motor Speedway. I will not embed the video out of courtesy for those who don't want to watch but you can find it on ESPN's website.

Huge loss to the sport. Unfortunately things like this happen in the sport. I remember Ayrton Senna being killed in a Formula One Race. I remember Greg Moore being killed on the CART circuit. Sports fans in the US obviously remember Dale Earnhardt's death at NASCAR'S Daytona 500.
As always you can leave a comment here, reach me by e-mail or .

VIDEO: Troy Polamalu scaring people at a Wax Museum

This is courtesy of Head & Shoulder's YouTube page and is absolutely fantastic.


I have to say that would scare me big time as well.
As always you can leave a comment here, reach me by e-mail or .

Ceremonial First Pitch at Texas Rangers game

The 2011 MLB playoffs got under way on Friday and there was already a great moment prior to any games having started.

The Texas Rangers invited 6-year-old fan Cooper Stone to throw out the Ceremonial First Pitch to his favorite player, Josh Hamilton. If you aren't aware Cooper's father Shannon Stone fell to his death at the Ballpark in Arlington earlier this summer.

Great work from the Texas Rangers here. Also kudos to the crowd.
As always you can leave a comment here, reach me by e-mail or .

"Security" issues land woman in handcuffs and jail

9/11 flight: Housewife handcuffed, strip-searched - US news - Security - msnbc.com

Yet another victim of bigotry and racism. From the looks of it someone on board the plane reported a "security scare" because of the skin color of her and two other passengers. The three passengers had never even met each other. I saw this story earlier today when Mike Madden of the Washington City Paper linked directly to her blog. You can read her full account on her blog. You can follow her on twitter on as well.

I haven't checked to see if the story has received TV coverage as of yet but it is good to see it spreading. Kudos to Shoshana Hebshi for getting her story out. More people need to do the same.

People seriously think she is a bigger security scare then this guy?
As always you can leave a comment here, reach me by e-mail or .

Lion King in 3D

Lion King is back in theaters for two weeks.

Anyone out there planning on going? It is one of my favorite movies from my childhood so I wouldn't be surprised if I ended up going at some point over the next two weeks. They brought it back for two weeks in 3D to promote their Blu-ray release. They even have bloopers!



As always you can leave a comment here, reach me by e-mail or .

Serena Williams is pathetic

Serena Williams is pathetic.

It is just beyond shameful at this point. It is the same old "look at me!" attitude but people continue to give her a pass just like they did for Tiger Woods all those years. I don't understand why people feel the need to apologize for her. She was wrong. There are no ifs, ands or buts about it. She broke a rule and got penalized for it. She then went on to threaten the chair umpire. It was a repeat of the disgrace from two years ago.

I saw a ton of people calling anyone who criticized her (including me) a racist. Really? Why is there a need to play the race card there? The cause of African-American athletes would go a lot further if people didn't become apologists over stupid stuff like this. There was no conspiracy against Serena. She was at fault. She is the one who acted like a little baby. Blindly defending someone because of their race is almost as bad as criticizing someone because of their race. The broadcast crew gave her a total pass with the exception of Mary Carillo briefly mentioning that Serena did break a rule.

Watch for yourself.

 

Her answers at the press conference afterwards were pretty weak too. Here's a transcript.
As always you can leave a comment here, reach me by e-mail or .

Why Bush Didn’t Mention Canada After 9/11 | FrumForum

Why Bush Didn’t Mention Canada After 9/11 | FrumForum

In the days after 9/11 George W. Bush gave a speech where he thanked a wide range of countries from Israel to Iran but Dubya made no mention of Canada which had taken 30,000 American travelers when all of the American airspace had been emptied. Why was there no mention of Canada? I'll let former Dubya adviser David Frum explain. Read the entire passage.

[Bush Speech writer Michael] Gerson shuffled in embarrassment. “We just … forgot.”
We have to fix this, I pleaded.
It’s too late, he answered. The president has signed off on the text. Evidently the president had forgotten too.
Let’s reopen the text, I urged. Futile. Bush was adamant in his demand for an orderly and conclusive speech process, unlike the endless rewrites of the Clinton White House. Once a speech was deemed closed — it was closed.
I returned home that night depressed and demoralized. As my wife and I prepared to watch the speech, I gloomily predicted to her that the Canadian reaction would be savage — and that I’d get the blame.
She countered: “If that happens, why not just tell them truth?”
To this day, she quotes the reply I gave her all those years ago: “Is the truth really better?”

You really can't make this stuff up.
As always you can leave a comment here, reach me by e-mail or .

Remember when New York used to hate Novak Djokovic?

It seems like it was so long ago but remember when the New York crowd used to hate Novak Djokovic? What a match between Federer and Djokovic today. Djokovic was down two sets and two match points but came back to win 6-7,4-6,6-3,6-2 and 7-5 to beat Federer in the semi finals for the second straight year here. Federer had two match points last year as well. As tennis fans we have to soak matches like these while we can. When again will we see three guys like Roger Federer, Rafa Nadal and Novak Djokovic dominate the sport again? These have been the top 3 guys in the sport for a long time now. Just wanted to share this video again because I don't think I've seen an athlete turn a crowd in his favor for good like he did that night. As always you can leave a comment here, reach me by e-mail or .

What if everything worked like the BCS?

As always you can leave a comment here, reach me by e-mail or .

2011 NFL Predictions

Are you ready for some football?

Who are you picking to make the playoffs this year? Here's how my picks shape up.

NFC Division Winners - Saints, Packers, Eagles and Rams
NFC Wildcard Winners - Lions and Falcons

AFC Division Winners - Jets, Chargers, Ravens and Texans
AFC Wildcard Winners - Patriots and Steelers

AFC Championship Game - Jets over Ravens
NFC Championship Game - Packers over Saints

Super Bowl - Packers over the Jets

As always you can leave a comment here, reach me by e-mail or .

Peyton Manning

Now that it has been announced that Peyton Manning will miss Week 1, would it really surprise anyone if he missed like 3-4 weeks?

Why am I bringing this up? A lot of people already had the Colts as just a 8 or 9 win team. Being without Peyton Manning for any length of time obviously lowers that number significantly. Say the Colts end up as a 2 or 3 win team. What do they do with the #1 pick next year? Do they draft Andrew Luck and let him learn from the best for a couple of years? Do they traded down and get a ton of picks so they can give Manning a lot of new toys to make a run with?
As always you can leave a comment here, reach me by e-mail or .

In honor of The Crocodile Hunter

On this date five years ago "The Crocodile Hunter" Steve Irwin was killed by a stingray off the coast of Australia. To this date this is one of my favorite commercials from ESPN's "This is Sportscenter" series.



As always you can leave a comment here, reach me by e-mail or .

Obama's statement on Eid

Barack Obama released a statement on on Tuesday marking Eid-ul-Fitr. Here it is in its entirety.

The White House

Office of the Press Secretary

For Immediate Release

August 30, 2011

Statement by the President on the Occasion of Eid-ul-Fitr

Michelle and I would like to send Eid greetings to Muslim communities in the United States and around the world. Ramadan has been a time for families and communities to share the happiness of coming together in intense devotion, reflection, and service. Millions all over the world have been inspired to honor their faith by reaching out to those less fortunate. This year, many have observed the month while courageously persevering in their efforts to secure basic necessities and fundamental freedoms. The United States will continue to stand with them and for the dignity and rights of all people, whether a hungry child in the Horn of Africa or a young person demanding freedom in the Middle East and North Africa.

As Ramadan comes to an end, we send our best wishes for a blessed holiday to Muslim communities around the world. Eid Mubarak.

As always you can leave a comment here, reach me by e-mail or .

Flood images from my area

I've been looking since yesterday for images from around my area. I wanted to go out yesterday but our township is still under a State of Emergency until at least today.

Check out this video from NJ.com on flooding in my area.



Here are some photos from around the area. Click on the links in the caption to see more from each of those sources.

This is a median on Route 18 in New Brunswick. (THNT)

Route 18 in New Brunswick (THNT)

Route 18 once again (THNT)

Canoe on Route 18 in New Brunswick (Credit Adam Helfgott)

Donaldson Park in Highland Park (THNT)

Route 27 (NJ.com)

Flooded Minor League Baseball Stadium (Jim Holovacko)

Easton Avenue by JFK Blvd. (Christopher Chipps)

As always you can leave a comment here, reach me by e-mail or .

Remember this "flood" video from 2005?

As always you can leave a comment here, reach me by e-mail or .

Some Hurricane survival tips from a novice

Living in the Northeast I have never really been through a hurricane threat like this but do know that there are some common sense thing everyone should be doing to prepare.


Here they are in no particular order:

• Have plenty of bottled water available. If there are power outages because of flooding it will get hot inside the house. 
• Have plenty of non-perishable snacks. We loaded up on chips, crackers, cookies, etc. These are things that won't go bad and if nothing happens these aren't things that will go to waste.
• Flashlights and a battery operated radio should be a must although I have to be honest I don't know if any radio of ours actually work. 
• Car charger for your cellphones is a good bet. If you lose power at least you can go charge your phone in the car. 
• I set up text alerts from the local police department through Nixle since I don't have a land line and would not have received any "Reverse 911" calls.
• If you are asked to be evacuate....DO IT! It makes no sense to risk your life or that of any first responders. 
• Have a bag packed and ready to go. Make sure you keep all important documents and medical supplies. 
• Here's one I saw on twitter earlier. Fill up your bath tub with water. You can use it to flush your toilet if need be. Had plenty of water in buckets and stuff but again...just to be safe. 
• Is your gas tank topped off? Filled up our car yesterday and there like 8-10 cars lined up at each pump. 
• Don't dress up like a bear and go to the beach. 
• If you a reporter covering the storm DO NOT embarrass yourself and your organization by reporting from ankle deep water.
• FEMA says to put your freezer and refrigerator at the coldest possible temperature setting. 
• Update people on how you are doing via social media (facebook/twitter) periodically so family and friends can check in on you

As always you can leave a comment here, reach me by e-mail or .

Vin Scully announces his return as only he can

One of the greatest ever announced his return to return in 2012.

Vin Scully will his 63rd season as the broadcaster of the Los Angeles Dodgers. He has had the gig since they played in Brooklyn. This news comes just days after it was reported that the Dodgers were asking season ticket holders to evaluate Vin Scully.

Watch the clip.



As always you can leave a comment here, reach me by e-mail or .

Hurricane Irene

Looks like the hurricane downgraded to Category 1 ahead of hitting North Carolina which is good news but the danger is far from over.

Already seeing so many idiots talking about "typical weathermen" and them being wrong. These are likely the very same people who will be complaining if we have extended power outages. The roads get bad here during an average storm so I don't even want to get into how bad they would with up to a foot of rain falling in a three hour period as was being mentioned last night. I'd rather the Hurricane Center be wrong while being extra cautious instead of being wrong by taking things lightly. If you live in a high rise building and are safe from the flooding don't take things lightly as the higher you are the more wind damage your apartment can receive. They've been talking about being worried about falling debris from skyscrapers in Manhattan injuring people on the ground.

 I don't know why it is so hard for people to grasp that certain areas are asked to evacuate early so there is less traffic on the roads at the end. NJ has had only a few counties be evacuated so far and there was already a 20 mile backup on the Garden State Parkway (which is like one of the few real highways in the area instead of the typical 2-3 lane ones we get around here). I heard people on the radio complain about the sports station here spreading paranoia in calling for the Giants/Jets pre-season game today to be postponed. Let me bold that part for you.....pre-season game.

NYC folks can find what kind of evacuation zone they are in by going here. You can also find shelter locations there.

If you are on twitter follow @breakingirene

If you want text alerts from your local police department you can do so by registering here. I signed yesterday and already got notified of road closures.

Be safe....get the hell out if their is an evacuation called for where you live. Better to be safe then to put your life in danger or that of any first responders that might have to respond to an emergency.

As always you can leave a comment here, reach me by e-mail or .

"Moneyball" Trailer

A month from today "Moneyball" hits theaters. I have to say that I am looking forward to the movie and will be checking it out. I read the book a while back and thought it was a pretty good read. Yes, I am well aware that the Athletics haven't even reached the World Series under Beane but he still turned out division winners with a low budget teams. Who knows, if the umpire calls Jeremy Giambi safe on the "flip play" (I still think the play was a tie at worst) maybe the A's win the World Series that year and vindicate Billy Beane?



As always you can leave a comment here, reach me by e-mail or .

Earthquake

This might be the first time I've felt an earthquake.

I was sitting on my bed when it started shaking. I felt it for a good 5-10 seconds. I went on twitter and saw a  tweet from Brendan Prunty of the Star-Ledger which confirmed by suspicions. If you felt the earthquake and would like to help the (USGS) fill out this little form. You can find out how strong the earthquake was where you were by entering your zip code here. It was a 4.1 where I live.

From the Washington Post.

The earthquake’s epicenter was nine miles south of Mineral, Va., and 87 miles southwest of Washington, D.C., according to the U.S. Geological Survey. The USGS initially recorded the quake at 5.8 magnitude but later upgraded it to a 5.9. It struck at 1:51 p.m. Eastern time, the USGS said. At 2.8 magnitude aftershock was reported at 2:46 p.m.

Predictably Verizon, AT&T and Sprint customers all had trouble making phone calls in the aftermath but I was able to text on my AT&T phone.

Manhattan District Attorney's press conference regarding Dominique Strauss-Kahn was interrupted by the earthquake and it was caught on video.

XKCD delivered with a great comic.

I've seen a lot of tweets and blog posts from the west coast mocking the east for the panic caused by this earthquake. I posted a response to that on Tumblr.

West coasters laughing at the east coast over the earthquake panic….just remember we’ve seen how you react to half an inch of snow.

As always you can leave a comment here, reach me by e-mail or .