NHL All-Star Draft

As I am playing some catch up on my DVR I have to say yet again that I absolutely love the All-Star draft that the NHL started doing last year.

Concept is simple. Instead of a simple East versus West game (or North America versus the World!) they pick two captains and they do a school yard style pick from a pool of All-Stars. Other sports needs to adopt this. I'd be much more interested in the NBA All-Star game if they did this.
As always you can leave a comment here, reach me by e-mail or .

Greg Schiano to the Buccaneers

The first thing I saw when I woke up today was this tweet. It took me a couple of minutes to figure out what was going on.

 I have to say that I was surprised when reports surfaced today that Rutgers Football Coach Greg Schiano was talking to the Tampa Buccaneers about their coaching vacancy. For a few years I had thought that if Schiano was to leave Rutgers it would be to follow Joe Paterno at Penn State. When the whole Penn State scandal broke I figured Schiano would stay especially in light of the strong recruiting class they were putting together. In retrospect though you have to wonder if the way things ended up going at Penn State with Paterno served as a reminder to him that no one stays in one place forever anymore.

I don't entirely blame Schiano here. How do you say no to the NFL? There has been a lot of negativity towards the program here in New Jersey from people who aren't football fans given his stature as the highest paid public employee in the state.  The Big East mess had to play a big factor here but him leaving this close to signing day will leave a little bit of a sour taste. He has built this program up well but he has done a disservice to the Rutgers Family (or Scarlet Nation as they are beginning to call themselves) and the "State of Rutgers". Sports are a business and you have to expect things like this but there is unfinished business here. I wonder where the school goes from here? Would offensive coordinator Frank Cignetti be able to hold the recruiting class together? Or do they turn to someone like Greg Toal who has built at a dynasty at Don Bosco Prep? Keith Sargeant, who is one of the Rutgers beat writers put together this possible short list.

What kind of a contract did Schiano end up getting? I read somewhere that he got a five year deal but the money will be interesting too. He was making north of $2.3 million at Rutgers. I was surprised to hear Adam Schefter mention that Schiano was a finalist for the Rams job too.

Rutgers fans will be angry for a while but Schiano does need to be praised for the work he did while he was here. No, we never did get that BCS game but he did leave the program in a better place then the situation that he inherited and you don't always get that. Rutgers won't go back into obscurity. The program has come far enough in the past decade to ensure of that. J.A Adande mentioned on ESPN's Around the Horn today that Rutgers has 21 players in the NFL right now. Alabama has five. That is a truly remarkable stat given where this program was not that long ago. People will say that he took the easy way out or even make this about money but if Schiano was really chasing that wouldn't he have taken the jobs at Michigan and Miami when they came his way? An NFL coaching job doesn't give him anywhere close to the security he had at Rutgers where he could easily have stayed for the next 25 years. I really can't fault him for wanting a NFL gig. As Atheltic Director Tim Pernetti told the media today, there are only 32 such jobs in the world. If you are a football guy how do you say no to that? You can read a transcript of Pernetti's comments to the press here.

Just yesterday the program had posted this video online for season ticket renewals. I'll have my seats again next year. I do want to see where this program goes from here. Hopefully the program  continues to build using the building blocks Greg Schiano left here.
 As always you can leave a comment here, reach me by e-mail or .

VIDEO: Ray Lewis postgame speech

Adam Schefter of ESPN linked to this earlier. Great stuff. As always you can leave a comment here, reach me by e-mail or .

2011 San Francisco 49ers

What a great day of football.

Hats off to the San Francisco 49ers. The team definitely surprised me this year. When the season got under way I wasn't expecting anything close to this. I thought that there was a good chance that the team would be in the mix for Andrew Luck next year. Jim Harbaugh deserves a lot of credit for the work he did with this team this year. It was great to see the 49ers back in the playoffs and hopefully next year will be another bright one.

How much money will David Tyree end up making in the next couple of weeks? He'll be everywhere in the lead up to the Super Bowl. How many times do you think you'll see a clip of his catch in the next two weeks?



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

NFL Conference Championship Predictions

Didn't get a chance to do detailed picks this week but just wanted to pop in to say I'm taking the Ravens and the 49ers to win.

Colbert Super PAC: Vote for Cain!

Americans for a Better Tomorrow, Tomorrow a.k.a The Definitely Not Coordinating With Stephen Colbert Super PAC has released a new ad urging people to vote for Stephen Colbert Herman Cain. Colbert urged people to do the same on last night's show.

The Colbert Report
Get More: Colbert Report Full Episodes,Political Humor & Satire Blog,Video Archive

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

Muhammad Ali turns 70

A Happy 70th Birthday to the Greatest of All-Time Muhammad Ali.

He truly was one of a kind in his prime. There wasn't anyone like him before and there hasn't been anyone after. He was way ahead of his time. Imagine how much bigger he could have been in the Cable and social media era? That's not to take away from the impact he did have in his prime. He was a big part of the civil rights movement as well as the anti-war movement.
As always you can leave a comment here, reach me by e-mail or .

Colbert Super PAC runs anti-Romney ad in South Carolina

Americans for a Better Tomorrow, Tomorrow a.k.a The Definitely Not Coordinating With Stephen Colbert Super PAC released an anti-Romney ad overnight. It is part of a heavy ad buy that the Super PAC got in South Carolina.

“Mitt Romney claims to be pro-corporations,” said Jon Stewart, President of The Definitely Not Coordinated With Stephen Colbert Super PAC. “But would you let him date your daughter’s corporation? Americans have been clamoring for a comprehensive study of this crucial issue, so we splurged for the full sixty-second commercial. We think South Carolinians will agree – they deserve a leader who shares their state’s values, and perhaps even their state’s initials.”

The Colbert Report
Get More: Colbert Report Full Episodes,Political Humor & Satire Blog,Video Archive

Colbert appeared on "This week with George Stephanopoulos" this morning.



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

NFL Divisional Round Predictions

Lets try this again, shall we? I was brutal with my picks last week going just 1-3 against the spread and 2-2 overall. Last year I went 8-3 against the spread in the playoffs.

The 49ers and the Saints get us underway today. Being a 49ers fan I obviously hope the team can get me a nice birthday gift and deliver a win. I have to say I am more optimistic today of the 49ers chances then I was all season as everyone began to project the playoff matchups. Take a look at this screen grab from ESPN earlier today.

The Saints are a different team outside of the Superdome. The 49ers have almost no shot getting to 40 points but Alex Smith can get them to the mid 20s. Can the defense and the running game slow down Brees? The 49ers have done a great job protecting the ball all season. They had a +28 turnover ratio compared to a -3 for the Saints. If Gore and Smith can protect the ball I think we are headed for an upset here. The Saints have NEVER won a road playoff game. I am going to take the 49ers +4 to win outright. Nothing against Brees or the Saints, they've had an amazing year but this 49ers team will pull off one more surprise today.

I feel dirty rooting for a Patriots win but you have to believe Brady and Belichick got sick and tired of listening to Tebow talk this week. Give it to Tebow though, that throw in OT was impressive despite the terrible defensive play call from the Steelers. A couple of big Tebow plays and this weak Patriots defense does scare me somewhat but I don't think this run has to end at some point so why not today? I have to give Bill Belichick enough credit as a defensive mind that he won't let Tebow have his way. Heck, maybe they just got Josh McDaniels to tape a Broncos practice now that he is back on the payroll! The Broncos will cover the 14 point spread but the Patriots will host the AFC Championship game next week.

Hats off to the Texans. Big win for them last week and given all the injuries they've had this year it has been one very good season for them on the field. Do they have one more win in them? T. J Yates will try to become just the 3rd QB to win two playoff games as a rookie (Mark Sanchez and Joe Flacco are the others). Speaking of Flacco, I didn't like his media session on Wednesday. He came across as a guy who is far too concerned with what others think about him. I think the game will be close to I'll take the Texans +9 but Ravens will win a field goal game.

A lot of people have been comparing this Giants team to the one that won a Super Bowl four years ago. A playoff game in Lambeau brought even more of that talk this week. I just don't see things working out the same for the Giants though. Aaron Rodgers and the Green Bay Packers are just playing at a really high level and as good as the Giants defense has been I don't think they will be able to slow down the Packers. I'll take the Packers -9 to win by double digits.
As always you can leave a comment here, reach me by e-mail or .

Jon Stewart takes over the Colbert SuperPAC

Great work from Jon Stewart and Stephen Colbert in continuing to point out how absurd the political system is.   You can find the video online. You can read the  statement from the PAC on the website.
As always you can leave a comment here, reach me by e-mail or .

Stephen Colbert is running for President.....sort of.

If you watched The Colbert Report last night you saw Stephen Colbert hint at a possible "run for President". Well, tonight he will announce the formation of an exploratory committee.

On his show tonight he will hand over control of his Super PAC to Jon Stewart (who will make an appearance!). He most likely won't be able to run though. Turns out that South Carolina doesn't allow write-in ballots in primaries.

A recent poll in South Carolina shows Colbert polling ahead of Jon Huntsman.

Have you seen any of the commercials the PAC has made?

The Colbert Report
Get More: Colbert Report Full Episodes,Political Humor & Satire Blog,Video Archive

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

"Please shut off your phone"

What is it with people not shutting off the volume on their phones in public places?

It is a widespread problem. There is always that one person who forgets to do it when going to a Mosque (I'm sure Churches and and Synagogues have the same problem), NBC Nightly News had a fun story about this tonight.

Visit msnbc.com for breaking news, world news, and news about the economy

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

"HEY RODGERS, DISCOUNT DOUBLE CHECK"

State Farm and Aaron Rodgers should have quit while they were ahead. This second one is terrible compared to the first one. As always you can leave a comment here, reach me by e-mail or .

NFL Playoff Predictions

With the games getting underway shortly I wanted to take a moment to post my playoff predictions. Looking back at my preseason predictions I ended up getting 8 out of the 12 playoff teams. If it wasn't for the disappointing years from the Chargers and Jets they would look a lot better. I'm a 49ers fan and I didn't pick them for the playoffs so I'm glad I was wrong on that one as well.

I am going to take the Bengals +4 to win outright against the Texans. Hats off to Marvin Lewis for the great job he has done with this team. The whole Carson Palmer situation should have been a big distraction for the team but not only did they pull off a great trade with the Raiders they still got to the playoffs with a rookie quarterback in Andy Dalton. Once Peyton Manning went down this really should have been the year of the Texans in the AFC. They should have locked up a bye but ended up being caught up in injuries themselves. They've done well to get to this point but I think their season ends today.

The Lions finishing 10-6 and making it to the playoffs is a great sports story given where that franchise and more importantly where that city has been but in a way even with the Green Bay Packers being in that division they almost seems like an underachieving team given the way they started the year. If Ndamukong Suh can keep head on straight this should be a start of great things to come for the Detroit Lions in the coming years. I think the Lions will cover the 11 point spread but the Saints will pull out the win. What a year Drew Brees had. I think Aaron Rodgers slowing down late in the season will help Brees pull out the MVP. The Saints probably are the one team in the NFC who can stop the Packers from repeating.

Even with a four game losing streak (and two additional losses to the Washington Redskins) the Giants somehow managed to make the playoffs and save Tom Coughlin's job. For whatever reason people like to knock Eli Manning but he took a big step forward this year. With the game on the line there are very few quarterbacks in the league who you'd want guiding that two minute drill. He is one of those quarterbacks. The Falcons should be a lot better at this point with Matt Ryan. I understand that being in the same division as the Saints doesn't help but this team doesn't excite me one bit. They do have a sour taste from last year's playoffs but I believe they lose again this weekend. I'll take the Giants -3.

"Tebow Time" is finished. I made a post earlier in the season saying Tebow would no longer be a starter by the middle of next season but a loss today could very well push that up to the start of next season. The Broncos offense continues to look awful. I think if they lose big today the Broncos will bring someone else at least compete with Tebow for the job next year. Given how banged up the Steelers are right now things are laid out pretty good with Broncos, the Steelers could very well lose this week......but I just don't think the Broncos have it in them. I'll take the Steelers -9.

For the heck of it here are my picks for the rest of the playoffs at this moment.

Divisional Round

Packers over Giants
Saints over 49ers
Patriots over Bengals
Ravens over Steelers

Conference Championship

Packers over Saints
Ravens over Patriots

Super Bowl XLVI
Packers over Ravens
As always you can leave a comment here, reach me by e-mail or .