Help us now, Jessica Simpson, in our Redskins time of need

Dear Jessica,

I've never asked you for much, but if you can help me out on this one little issue, it'd sure be super duper.

If you and your big



hair, can please give Mr. Romo a telephone call before the game that'd be great. Or heck, why not even just show up to the game unannounced to wish him well? And if you were to get caught on camera, it sure wouldn't hurt for your whole PR game.

The Redskins are struggling, so we can really use the help. And if it makes you and your supposedly very religious father (who wh*re's you out, and has done so since you were 15) feel any better, then our religious coach Joe Gibbs will surely pray with you before and after the game.

Thanks a bunch!

Good xmas video

NOT endorsing the candidate, but still a good video:

Mitchell Report: Middle America is immune?

The Mitchell Report is out (full stats of named players here).

Did no player in middle america ever use them? Is this proof of the viral element of the drugs in question and their uses?

Where can I find a timeline and a "flow chart" of players and where the use is being alleged?

8/15 Food breakdown

Calories Eaten Today

	grams	cals	%total
Total:		1329
Fat:	64	572	44%
Sat:	35	318	24%
Poly:	5	46	4%
Mono:	19	173	13%
Carbs:	75	280	21%
Fiber:	5	0	0%
Protein:	63	251	19%
Alcohol:	29	208	16%

1329 isn't so bad, and I did mow the yardS for about 45 minutes, and rake leaves. But it's still not a focussed exercise/workout plan...

Dook suchs

Yes Johnny, they do suck. Both at football, and with any attractive women.

Needless potshot? Ok, I admit it. There's no need to point out how bad the football team is.

But evidently their football team SUCKS.

I'll disagree with ESPN and say the "biggest disappointment" was the team, the record, and probably the past 20 years.

Duke

The highlight: A 20-14 road win against Northwestern. The lowlight: Everything else. Duke finished 1-11 (0-8 in ACC play). Ted Roof got fired for his 6-45 record. The Blue Devils lost the season finale to -- gasp -- North Carolina. In overtime. Duke finished the regular season last in the ACC in total offense, rushing offense, scoring offense, total defense … you get the picture. If you're a Blue Devil, it just doesn't get much worse. Wait, yes it does: Since 1996, Duke has had four winless seasons and eight winless records against conference opponents. During that span, the Blue Devils never won more than four games in a season.

MVP: Junior receiver Eron Riley provided a burst of productivity to Duke's otherwise forgettable season. His 20.8 yards per catch led the ACC and ranked fifth in the nation. Riley was second in league with nine touchdown catches -- four of which came against Navy. Unfortunately for the Dukies, it didn't matter.

Biggest Disappointment: The season finale. Against bitter rival North Carolina. The final play of regulation. With 1:25 remaining against the Tar Heels, Duke drove 58 yards to set up the potential game-winning field goal with one second left on the clock. But freshman Nick Maggio missed the 40-yard attempt. Duke lost 20-14 in overtime.

What's next: First the Blue Devils need to find a coach. Then they need the support of the administration. The stadium needs a facelift, and the infrastructure of the program -- relationships with the admissions office, the money to pay the coaches and academic support -- all need to grow. Other than that, the players are set. Duke will have 10 starters back on defense, along with quarterback Thaddeus Lewis and Riley.

ESPN Reviews MD's Football Season

And it don't look so hot.

The gist? We stunk; injuries played a bit part, but we didn't make the plays and didn't have the skills needed.

If there is a QB controversy next season, well then shoot me. On the heals of the hoops team losing to the OH-IO Bobcats, well, I'm close to giving up.

Oh, and I love Erin Henderson. He gave it all to the team, and he better get something in return from the NFL.

Maryland

Yes, the Terps beat two top-10 teams in one season for the first time ever, but at the end of the day, neither Boston College nor Rutgers was in the top 10, and Maryland wasn't better than 6-6 (3-5 in ACC). An absurd amount of injuries -- particularly to the offensive line -- prevented this team from reaching its true potential, but it never quit trying. Following three straight losses, the Terps stunned ACC runner-up Boston College with a 42-35 win and after a rather ugly loss at Florida State, rebounded with one of its most complete performances of the season to close it out with a 37-0 win at NC State.

MVP: Linebacker Erin Henderson led the league with 11.1 tackles, but even more impressive is the fact that he injured nearly every body part in the process and kept on playing. It started with a stinger in his right shoulder at camp. He had an ulcer in his cornea at Rutgers, and hurt his knee, causing damage to his LCL, meniscus and popliteal ligament. He broke his thumb against West Virginia, and injured his back against North Carolina.

Biggest Disappointment: It wasn't a play or a game -- it was a pop quiz, and speedy Florida transfer quarterback Josh Portis got busted cheating on it. He was ruled ineligible for the season and spent 2007 on the scout team for the second straight year. He would have finally had his chance, as starter Jordan Steffy was out with a concussion.

What's next: Odds are Ralph Friedgen re-opens the quarterback job and the speculation plays out over again. Can Steffy earn his job back? Has Chris Turner earned the right to keep it? Will Portis ever play at Maryland? The bigger question on offense is how successfully the Terps will run the ball without seniors Lance Ball and Keon Lattimore.

Mark Zuckerman is an idiot

"The Washington Nationals, by all accounts, were a significant success in 2007. Young players emerged. Old ones rediscovered their top form. The organization positioned itself well to transition into its new ballpark. " Mark baby, are you kidding me?

He gushingly continues, "Manny Acta and Jim Bowden, though, still weren't content. Sure, they could bring back the same roster in 2008 and expect further improvement. But the Nationals' manager and general manager wanted more." Oh, how intrepid that Bowden is. What guts, what an over-achiever. He won't hold steady at 73 wins, not THIS guy!!!

This is bad from any perspective you take. Jimmy "Hairdo" is no genius, though he has made several good (Dmitri) and bad (Guzman) moves.

But that first line, it kills me. I don't know a single Nats fan, who upon review and reflection of this past season, would say "Yeah, I was definitely pleased with it. That was a successful year." The 2007 season was all filler and no meat. They just wanted to not be glaringly putrid, so that we can get into that shiny new stadium and pump up the attendance. That'll buy them another 2-3 seasons of sub-.500 baseball.

Collins comes in, playcalling opens up

Wow.

Yet it seems that with Collins in the game, Al Saunder (Sub-Chief Advance Pro Temperate of Offensive Considerations, or SCAPTOC) felt more comfortable with the playbook. Either that, or Gibbs fell asleep and an intern started calling the plays.

We've seen glimpses of the opened up offense, notably against Dallas. The biggest point proven? We need to open it up, and we can't wait till the season is over. Too late though..


And for Jason?

Washington		Comp	Att	Yds	Pct	Y/A	Sack	YdsL	TD	Int
J. Campbell		10	16	100	62.5	6.3	0	0	0	0

We can only hope he is healthy, as the odds of another stellar Collins performance ain't high.

But tonight, he looked like an all-star. And as Gumbel said with great emotion, for him, this was Collins' "best game of the century". And of the past decade as well.


T. Collins QB
15-20, 224 yds
2 TDs


Possible Ewing theory at play?

Portis out as well?

Stomach injury? At least we scored two TDs, our D looks good, and the Bears look inept.

And thanks Cris Collinsworth for your general concern for our players, very classy...

If any were left, all the wheels (and the spare) are off the Skins wagon

Campbell "with a knee", Cooley with something else. Todd Collins (which sounds like a cocktail from the 50's) getting stripped.

Horrific.

Recession proof home improvements? No thanks

MSN suggests 5 "recession proof" home improvement tips:

• paired back kitchen upgrade
• paired back bathroom remodel
• in-law apartment/s
• new exterior siding

The focus of their article is on improving a house, but almost all are cosmetic in first nature, with other functional/amenity benefits as well (kitchen upgrade means better appliances, right?)

 

But what would make more sense for someone who is struggling with their budget (and may not be able to make their new mortgage payments? A more efficient furnace, A/C or water heater; filling holes/gaps in your walls/foundation that leak in air; and increasing the insulation in your attic. In an increasingly energy costly future, these improvements will save you X now, and X*1.10 in 3 or 4 years.

 

And since it's next to impossible to sell a house these days, you better make your house more livable and cheaper to own.

"StickK Business" - Keep your promise, or else

StickK seems to have an interesting concept, if you don't meet your personal goal/promise, charity gets to benefit for your loss (or lack of loss, if you're trying to drop pounds).

StickK Business

via The University of Chicago Law School Faculty Blog by EricPosner on 12/4/07

Suppose you want to lose weight, and you have been unable to stick to a diet. Your aspiration is sincere but your will is weak. Fortunately, a solution is around the corner: you enter a contract with StickK, a new company founded by Ian Ayres, a Yale law professor, and some of his colleagues. Under this contract, you must pay StickK $1000 if you fail to lose (say) 10 pounds by the end of the year; the $1000 sum is handed over to a charity. If you lose the pounds, you pay nothing. (StickK will make money through advertising and in other ways.) A third party is retained to verify that you have lost weight. Ayres and his colleagues argue that this system will be more effective than alternatives at helping people lose weight, go to the gym, stop smoking, and achieve other personal objectives that require self-control.

Some nice legal questions arise. The system can work only if the contracts are legally enforceable. If they are not, the customer pays no penalty for failure except embarrassment, and one does not need StickK to expose oneself to embarrassment for failing to keep a public commitment to lose weight. But courts are unlikely to enforce such contracts. There is no consideration for your promise to pay money to StickK if you fail to lose weight—no quid pro quo, which is legally required for an enforceable contract. StickK does not give you anything in return for your promise to lose weight; nor do you give anything to StickK in return for its promise to pay the charity if you fail to lose weight. A rare zero-sided contract, there is no quid and no quo.

But there is a more serious difficulty. As StickK itself recognizes, it is important that the charity not be too attractive. If it is, then you will not feel bad if you fail to lose pounds—the money goes to a deserving group like the homeless—in which case you will not have a strong incentive to keep your commitment. To solve this problem, StickK will not permit its customers to choose the charity. But the problem remains. The money has to go to some charity, and at least some customers will turn out to favor that charity. For those customers, StickK can't supply the needed incentive to keep their commitments.

What StickK needs to do is donate your money to an anti-charity, a group that almost no one approves of: the government of Sudan, say, or the tobacco industry. Perhaps if you know that breaking your diet makes you complicit in genocide, you will resist that slice of chocolate covered cheesecake. Let's hope that the Sudanese government does not realize that it can cut out the middleman, and make money from obese Americans directly, by agreeing to take their money if they fall off their diets. Indeed, if Ayres' business model is sound, we can imagine a future emporium of self-control entrepreneurs, with Sudan, North Korea, the tobacco industry, baby seal hunters, and pedophiles all vying for the business of the overweight, the underdeveloped, and other sufferers from weakness of will.

Fridge to eat a lot of rice - Emerald and Oregon State?

Well...

We found out where Maryland stands, and it ain't so hot. San Fran is definitely better than Boise, but is it better than NC? At least with NC it'd be mostly local traffic...

Oregon State - with no research, all I can say is I know they have a football team, their baseball team is great (!), but I know nothing about the football team.

Research shows they recently beat a weakened Oregon.

Let's see what these guys have to say: 1, 2, 3 (wow, they are serious!).

Why wait for NYE? How about a weekly resolution?

I hate New Year's Eve resolutions, I disagree with waiting for the end of the year to resolve to improve one's self. While it's cliche, I like to consider the premise of Kaizen (改善). Which when I learned of it, meant "the process of continuous self-improvement".

So my focus for the upcoming week? And what I will spend the first 15 minutes of my work day on? Being a better, and more involved boss. How will I do this?

• Personally interact with every single of my 23+ staff (as Team Lead)- Often times I don't see them for an entire week, preferring to "leave them alone" and let me work my own items.
  
• Review their most current milestones and deliverables - I feel like additional focus from their front line manager will assist them.
  
• Interact with each Team Lead in my Section (as Deputy Section Lead) - As a team Lead, mentioned above, I have a few people reporting to me. As a Deputy Section Manager, I have 83+ in the form of 5 teams. I don't have a solid understanding each week of what they do. I need to do a better job.
• I'm going to coordinate the week - I'm going to spend the other first 15 minutes of my Monday and make sure I know what is due, in my Section and my Team, and let people know I'm aware.

Things may not go better, but I'm not going to feel like I've forgotten or neglected things.

Skins use S. Taylor as an excuse?

In post-game press conference and interviews, both Joe Gibbs and Jason Campbell (two of the worst Redskins performers) invoke the name of Sean Taylor as "reasons" for the loss.

I've been through personal losses in life, I know what it is like. So I won't say that they haven't suffered. But to use the name of Sean Taylor, and that they lost focus down the stretch of the game? When they've blown every other game in similar situations???

Frankly, it's disgusting. They blew it. They played poorly. They made numerous poor decisions. And to say "Oh, well, you know, we were bent up over Sean." That's horse****, pure and simple.

Let's play this game. You think Sean Taylor would have been excited with the poor level of play today? You think he would have been excited with Gibbs BLOWING a last minute timeout situation?

Shame on you all. If you're going to claim that Sean is an integral part of your season and situation, the be real and admit he had no role in your loss. You made bad plays, YOU messed up, YOU lost the game.

The ultimate sign Joe Gibbs has lost it???

The time out heard round the NFL world. WOW.

Since his return he's been known for horrible clock management. Now this.

His mistake cost the team (assuming a miss on the originally spotted kick).

But a 51 yard kick is WAY different than a 36 yard kick.

Result? Skins lose. Gibss must look stupid, but expect an "Aw gosh, gee wiz" post-game press conference response from Gibbs.

Damn shame...

Can someone please teach Jason Campbell to throw the ball away?

Just a rant from a fan:

How many times must we watch you get sacked for a loss? Wasn't the safety today enough to for you to realize that you are doing something wrong?

Sure, you are playing with a beaten up and run down O line. Sure, you have undersized WRs. Sure, Portis isn't known for his blocking (though Rock Cartwright gets it done better).

But let's learn this lesson. Throw the dang ball away.

Dear USMA AD,

Something needs to be done, and quick. USMA football is sinking (well, what's the land equivalent of sinking, since this isn't about USNA?).

You heave a wealth of dedicated and smart athletes. They will literally do anything you ask of them. But your offensive schema isn't working. How do I know this?

Date	Opponent	Result/Time	Record/Tickets
September 1	at Akron	L 22-14	0-1
September 8	Rhode Island	W 14-7	1-1
September 15	at Wake Forest	L 21-10	1-2
September 22	at No. 14 Boston College	L 37-17	1-3
September 29	Temple	W 37-21	2-3
October 6	Tulane	W 20-17	3-3
October 13	at Central Michigan	L 47-23	3-4
October 20	at Georgia Tech	L 34-10	3-5
November 3	at Air Force	L 30-10	3-6
November 9	Rutgers	L 41-6	3-7
November 17	Tulsa	L 49-39	3-8
December 1	at Navy	L 38-3	3-9

You actually played a pretty good schedule. So maybe things can be fixed if you stop playing BC and Georgia Tech. And how could you have known Wake Forest and Rutgers would get really good? But beyond those four, and the newly (in the past 5 years) revived USNA team means you played 7 other teams who are barely real I-A schools.

Do NOT go I-AA (or whatever we call it now). This would be the death knell of your program, as you'd be relegated to second-tier status, and you'd kill your recruiting (for football at least), and it'd be the ultimate sign that you can't compete.

So what do you do?

Gimmick offense.

It's the only way. The triple-option at USNA is legit, and you don't have to take on that offensive system (though a trip-o on trip-o game would be great), but you need some offensive system that teams don't see anywhere else all year. Gimmicks won't fix the D, but they can be helped if your O improves.

Also, you need to either be an overall bigger team, or just faster/quicker everywhere. How bigger? I mean, CB's that are 6' 22olbs; or Safeties that are 6'2" 230lbs. Hit everyone harder. You can't match other schools in size in your lines, so you have to bigger elsewhere.

And/or, you have to be at least as fast and quick. If your Linemen are smaller, they better get quicker. So instead of recruiting OL/DL from HS, get LBs and TEs and teach them the Line skills they need. Focus everything on quickness and technique. We know your guys have the focus to make this happen.

Please don't let one of the most illustrative programs die. We're worried. While on the surface USNA fans were excited by yet another win, but "deep down in places they don't talk about at parties", they are worried. Remember, the rivalry is about "brotherhood". They wan't you to play well, and they don't want you to dwindle on the vine.

This can be done, you can be fixed. You just have to face the situation as it is.

Sincerely,

Sports Fans Everywhere