Because Democratic Senators can’t/won’t pass a budget, (and Mz. Wasserman Schultz doesn’t understand the process), Chuck Schumer says that in lieu of the Arizona immigration law getting upheld in the Supreme Court, he’s going to introduce legislation to over-turn the Court’s decision:

Anticipating an unfavorable ruling, Sen. Charles E. Schumer, a New York Democrat who is a critic of the Arizona law, said Tuesday that if the court does uphold the state’s law, he will introduce legislation to overturn that decision and grant the federal government sole control on immigration matters.

Mr. Schumer’s legislation would also overturn a 2011 Supreme Court case that upheld a separate Arizona law that requires all businesses in the state to check employees’ legal status using E-Verify, the federal government’s electronic verification system.  link

Got that?  Schumer could care less about State’s rights and plans to over-turn the electronic verification system to check legal status. Yet, ironically, he‘s in favor of requiring Senate campaigns to change over to electronic fundraising records to save a half million in paper annually:

“For transparency’s sake, it is time for the Senate to move to a modern system of filing of its campaign finance reports,” said Schumer, who chairs the Senate Rules Committee. “This bill would not only save hundreds of thousands of dollars for taxpayers each year, it would also help provide more immediate and complete access to campaign spending reports. The public deserves the utmost transparency when it comes to campaign finances, and the Senate’s switch to an e-filing system is long overdue.”

You’ve got to wonder how Schumer’s going to track the illegal immigration money with no e-verify.  Perhaps Mr. Schumer’s retirement party is “long overdue”?

While Freddie Couples faded yesterday, Phil Mickelson shot a stellar 66 to put him into position for a fourth Green Jacket.  Meanwhile,  Tiger, Rory, Sergio, and several others had their “A-Games” fall to mystery of Augusta’s trance.

Official Masters Leaderboard        Amen Corner Live Online

A Happy Easter to all.

Rov

First Round Leaders

So much for the “birdie-fest” many of the pros, (and golf pundits), had predicted in the opening round.  Even with conditions on the course being “receptive”, the top golfers in the world were mostly humbled by Augusta’s wet conditions, (muddy balls), and the precarious pin positions.

Gary Van Sickle, Senior Writer at Sports Illustrated summed up the misconceptions and expectations:

Thursday was expected to be some sort of great international shootout at Augusta National Golf Club. The course was still soaked from Tuesday night’s heavy storms. The greens were still soft and receptive. The wind was down. It was oh-so-obviously going to be an exciting day replete with a buffet of low scores. Perfect scoring conditions were going to turn this Masters opening round, Phil Mickelson predicted Tuesday, into “a birdie-fest.”

Only nine players shot in the 60s, and only three of those were better than three under par. England’s Lee Westwood rode a streak of four straight birdies on the front nine to a five-under 67. South Africa’s Louis Oosthuizen, the 2010 British Open champion, and Sweden’s Peter Hanson shot 68.

A group of six players at 69 featured Paul Lawrie, Ben Crane, Francesco Molinari, Jason Dufner, Miguel Angel Jimenez and Bubba Watson. Tiger Woods finished bogey-bogey for an even-par 72.

Westwood showed off the solid ballstriking form he’s enjoyed all year, hitting every fairway and 16 of 18 greens in regulation. He hit it close on four straight holes for easy birdies, starting at the fifth, then added a last one at the 17th to grab the solo lead late in the day. (For the day, he made seven birdies and two bogeys.) Westwood said he considers Augusta National a second-shot golf course, and iron play is the strength of his game, so he’s always felt very comfortable here. In addition, he was playing well coming into the year’s first major.  link

With a 50% chance of precipitation and a few possible thunder-storms passing through, I don’t expect any one to “tear up Augusta” today.  But the weekend weather outlook is supposed to be ideal with temps rising into the 70’s with clear skies.

I would expect most golfers up on the leaderboard, who survived yesterday to “protect their scores” playing conservatively, to get into the weekend.   But there are a ton of pros who still need to post some low scores to even make it to Saturday, which means they’ll have to take some chances where the course allows it.  Saturday has been traditionally called “moving day”……..this year, moving day might be today—with perhaps a few early plane reservations.

Official Masters Leaderboard

Amen Corner Live Online

(note: I’ll try to provide some updates in the comments section)

Few golf tournaments achieve the world’s attention like the Masters.  The first of the four majors, the Masters is the only one that is staged at the same location every year, the hallowed grounds of Augusta National Golf Club, located in Augusta, Georgia.

The course, (founded by Bobby Jones and Clifford Roberts and designed by Alister MacKenzie), was opened in 1933 and has been the host of the Masters Tournament since 1934.  Ranked “number one” by Golf Digest in 2009 on the list of America’s top 100 greatest courses, the architecture and historical setting is unmatched among American golf courses.  This year’s Honorary Starters are six-time winner Jack Nicklaus,  four-time winner Arnold Palmer, and three-time winner Gary Player.  Nicklaus is also the oldest player to ever win the Masters, (46 years, 82 days), in 1986.  From 1960-1966 these three legends won every Masters tournament.  Previous Honorary Starters were some of the greatest golfers of all time:  Byron Nelson, Gene Sarazen, Ben Hogan, and Sam Snead, to name a few.

This year’s Masters has reached a fever pitch with the return of a rejuvenated Tiger Woods, (winner of the Bay Hill Classic just a few weeks ago).  But Woods will face one of the stiffest fields ever assembled in a major with a combination of youthful favorites and wily veterans—all hungry for the coveted Green Jacket.  With Woods leading the top-ten by the odds-makers, Rory McIlroy, (who lead by four strokes going into the final round last year before his meltdown—80—yet the 22 year old came back and dominated the U.S. Open), three-time winner Phil Mickelson, and current world number one ranked Luke Donald, should challenge Woods for the Green Jacket.  But there are others going under the radar that could also make their case in the days ahead.  Few had even heard of  Charl Adriaan Schwartzel, (South Africa), who, in the previous year birdied the last four consecutive holes in the final round to shock the golf world.  There are plenty of “Schwartzels” in the field this year, and with the course getting a good dose of old man winter the past few days, the big hitters/long drivers might not have an advantage until the weekend rolls around.  The course will remain receptive to low scores until it dries.

Game on!

Official Masters Leaderboard 

Amen Corner Live Online

Purse:  $8,000,000

With the Mega Millions Jackpot now up over $640 million, I thought it would be a good time to think about remodeling my living room with the winnings.  What would you do?

Exit question: If an OWS supporter won the big jackpot, how would they handle becoming a 1%?

Rutherford B. Hayes, a distinguished Civil War hero, a staunch defender of civil rights for southern blacks, and a President that took on his own Republican party to end the corruption of civil service appointees is called “a failure of forward-thinking leadership” by President Obama, (our current “historian” in the White House).  From the NY Magazine via Politico:

Speaking about the need to develop new sources of American energy in Largo, Md., Obama used our 19th president as a failure of forward-thinking leadership.

“One of my predecessors, President Rutherford B. Hayes, reportedly said about the telephone: ‘It’s a great invention but who would ever want to use one?’”

Obama said. “That’s why he’s not on Mt. Rushmore.”

“He’s looking backwards, he’s not looking forward. He’s explaining why we can’t do something instead of why we can do something,” Obama said.

First of all, there’s historical evidence that Hayes never made this statement.  But Dan Amira at New York Magazine did a little investigating and found this:

We thought it was a bit unsporting of Obama to attack President Hayes, who is quite unable to respond. So we called up the Rutherford B. Hayes Presidential Center in Fremont, Ohio, where Nan Card, the curator of manuscripts, was plenty willing to correct Obama’s ignorance of White House history.  Just as soon as she finished chuckling.

“I’ve heard that before, and no one ever knows where it came from,” Card said of Hayes’s alleged phone remark, “but people just keep repeating it and repeating it, so it’s out there.”

Wait, so Hayes didn’t even say the quote that Obama is mocking him for? “No, no,” Card confirmed.

She then read aloud a newspaper article from June 29, 1877, which describes Hayes’s delight upon first experiencing the magic of the telephone. The Providence Journal story reported that as Hayes listened on the phone, “a gradually increasing smile wreathed his lips and wonder shone in his eyes more and more.” Hayes took the phone from his ear, “looked at it a moment in surprise and remarked, ‘That is wonderful.’”

In fact, Card noted, Hayes was not only the first president to have a telephone in the White House, but he was also the first to use the typewriter, and he had Thomas Edison come to the White House to demonstrate the phonograph. “So I think he was pretty much cutting edge,” Card insisted, “maybe just the opposite of what President Obama had to say there.”

But let’s digress a bit.  (Editor’s note:  I’m using Wikipedia as a reference here and have edited out some of the “reference links” through-out the text for “easier reading” purposes only.  Feel free to read the original text here.  Also, with a little research, I found no credible evidence to refute the context of the two following paragraphs):

Hayes’s later attempts to protect the rights of southern blacks were ineffective, as were his attempts to rebuild Republican strength in the South. He did, however, defeat Congress’s efforts to curtail federal power to monitor federal elections.  Democrats in Congress passed an army appropriation bill in 1879 with a rider that repealed the Force Acts.  Those Acts, passed during Reconstruction, made it a crime to prevent someone from voting because of his race. Hayes was determined to preserve the law protecting black voters, and he vetoed the appropriation.  The Democrats did not have enough votes to override the veto, but they passed a new bill with the same rider. Hayes vetoed this as well, and the process was repeated three times more.  Finally, Hayes signed an appropriation without the offensive rider, but Congress refused to pass another bill to fund federal marshals, who were vital to the enforcement of the Force Acts.  The election laws remained in effect, but the funds to enforce them were curtailed for the time being.

Hayes next attempted to reconcile the social mores of the South with the recently passed civil rights laws by distributing patronage among southern Democrats. “My task was to wipe out the color line, to abolish sectionalism, to end the war and bring peace,” he wrote in his diary. “To do this, I was ready to resort to unusual measures and to risk my own standing and reputation within my party and the country.”  All of his efforts were in vain; Hayes failed to convince the South to accept the idea of racial equality and failed to convince Congress to appropriate funds to enforce the civil rights laws.  (all emphasis mine)

Now remember, according to our current resident in the White House, the idea of achieving racial equality over 125 years ago WAS NOT “FORWARD THINKING”.  Hayes was not only attempting to preserve and protect the  rights of black voters, (sometimes at the dismay of his own party), he was battling a DEMOCRATIC PARTY that was determined to repeal these rights, and, (in the end), actually lost the battle because Democrats in control refused to fund the proper enforcement authorities that would have maintained the integrity of the black voter’s rights.  President Hayes was not only on the cutting edge of new technology, he could be considered a champion of the first round of civil rights for all Americans.  If President Obama had taken the time to review a few of these historical facts, he might have considered President Hayes as a candidate for Mt. Rushmore, instead of using Hayes as a political tool to advance his own ambitions—stupidly.

~Rov

Update:  I was “otherwise incapacitated” and missed this as one of Ed’s Obamateurisms of the day and Tina’s post on Thursday.  Never the less, the story does, (in my humble opinion) bear repeating.

Update two:  Not a big fan of the “tweeter empire” yet, but couldn’t help posting a few tweets via twitchy.com :

Jon Gabriel@ExJon

#BarackObamasPresidentialFacts Ulysses S. Grant was our first Greek president.

Jim Antle@jimantle

“Purple Hayes” was the first Jim Hendrix song about a president. #BarackObamasPresidentialFacts

In the late sixties this “kid” was an American heart-throb with a band called the Monkees. The music they played, (Davy, Mickey, Peter, and Michael) was just what the doctor ordered—full of fun. This morning Davy passed away:

Davy Jones, The Monkees’ lead singer and chief heartthrob of the ’60s TV phenomenon, died Wednesday of a massive heart attack at his home in Indiantown, Fla. He was 66.

With his British accent and trademark long hair, Jones was the Justin Bieber of his day, selected as America’s “dream prom date” for his TV appearances and singing lead on The Monkees’ classics “Daydream Believer” and “I Wanna Be Free.” Along with being The Cute One on “The Monkees” TV show, Jones was also The Content One.

“I just wanted to be in the show, fall in love twice in each episode and kiss the girls,” Jones told The Republican of Springfield, Mass., last month, in one of the star’s final interviews. “I had no ambition to be Steven Spielberg or Cecil B. DeMille.”

Here’s some pretty good utube videos/music to remember the good times:

Theme – Pilot – Intro

Last Train To Clarksville, 1967

I’m a Believer [official music video]

Daydream Believer

From the Hollywood Reporter:

News of his sudden death prompted heartfelt messages and remembrances among his former bandmates and other Hollywood notables, who looked back fondly on the singer’s long-spanning musical career.

“So many lovely and heartfelt messages of condolence and sympathy, I don’t know what to say, except my sincere thank you to all. I share and appreciate your feelings,” Jones’ former bandmate Michael Nesmith said on his Facebook page.

“David’s spirit and soul live well in my heart, among all the lovely people, who remember with me the good times, and the healing times, that were created for so many, including us. I have fond memories. I wish him safe travels,” he continued.

Micky Dolenz added, “I am in a state of shock; Davy and I grew up together and shared in the unique success of what became The Monkees phenomena. The time we worked together and had together is something I’ll never forget. He was the brother I never had and this leaves a gigantic hole in my heart. The memories have and will last a lifetime. My condolences go out to his family. ”

Peter Tork also expressed his sympathy via Facebook, saying, “It is with great sadness that I reflect on the sudden passing of my long-time friend and fellow-adventurer, David Jones. His talent will be much missed; his gifts will be with us always. My deepest sympathy to Jessica and the rest of his family. Adios, to the Manchester Cowboy. Peace and love, Peter T.”

More at the link~~

Rest in Peace Davy, and thanks for wonderful music that crossed the paths of generations.

Two cautions already, but it’s finally started.  Should be a great race.

In the last 11 500s, only four times has a driver beginning inside the Top 10 triumphed.

Here are the drivers most likely to continue this odd trend on Monday in the 2012 running (odds via Sportsbet Sportsbook):

5. Kurt Busch – 28th (22-to-1)

Kurt Busch is long removed from his Sprint Cup Series championship back in 2004. He still managed to finish 11th last year and can’t be underestimated in this event.

4. Kasey Kahne – 20th (18-to-1)

Kasey Kahne finds himself back where he started. The 31-year-old driver debuted in the Daytona 500 back in 2004. After a somewhat uneventful 2011 season, winning the sport’s greatest race would be an effective way to erase the memories of Kahne’s past disappointments.

3. Jeff Gordon – 16th (14-to-1)  Update: OUT—blown engine

Jeff Gordon’s kind of a big deal in Daytona Beach. He has won the event three times in his illustrious career, and it wouldn’t shock a soul if he ended the day in Victory Lane yet again.

2. Kevin Harvick – 13th (11.5-to-1)

Kevin Harvick doesn’t have Gordon’s Daytona resume, but he’s no stranger to the winner’s circle either. He won the race back in 2007 and coming off a strong 2011 campaign, he’s looking to start this season off with a bang.

1.  Kyle Busch – 14th (11-to-1)

The second Busch on this list is the most likely driver outside the top 10 to walk away victorious. He won the Budweiser Shootout, so he’s off to a great start in 2012.

Update: Safety Truck Fire — video at the link.  Heat on track could end the race.

Update:  Second video link of fire.  (200 gallons of jet fuel—not going out)

Juan Pablo Montoya broke new ground in the 51st Daytona 500, losing control of his car and slamming into the back of an emergency truck full of 200 gallons of jet fuel. The truck immediately exploded, creating a huge fireball and setting the track on fire for minutes until a cadre of emergency crews were able to put it out. The condition of the track is still in doubt and with the race past the halfway point, it could become official with Dave Blaney leading.

Hopefully, the track is not too damaged to keep this race “alive”.  Stand by.

Update:  It looks like the track’s not damaged and they may start this race soon……rumored: a weather pattern is moving in.  Forty Laps to Go!

WE HAVE A WINNER!  Congrats to Matt Kenseth for getting his Ford to the front at the right time—at the finish line.  (video interview here)  Here’s the list of the top ten finishers:

1.Matt Kenseth, Ford 2. Dale Earnhardt Jr., Chevrolet 3. Greg Biffle, Ford 4. Denny Hamlin, Toyota 5. Jeff Burton, Chevrolet 6. Paul Menard, Chevrolet 7. Kevin Harvick, Chevrolet 8. Carl Edwards, Ford 9. Joey Logano, Toyota 10. Mark Martin, Toyota

Next stop:  NASCAR Sprint Cup Series at Phoenix Phoenix International Raceway, Sunday, March 4th, 3 pm (ET), Noon Pacific.

Contraception Misdirection
A universal birth-control mandate is a curious priority for a dying republic.

By Mark Steyn

Have you seen the official White House version of what the New York Times headline writers call “A Responsible Budget”? My favorite bit is Chart 5-1 on page 58 of their 500-page appendix on “Analytical Perspectives.” This is entitled “Publicly Held Debt Under 2013 Budget Policy Projections.” It’s a straight line going straight up before disappearing off the top right-hand corner of the graph in the year 2084 and continuing northeast straight through your eye socket, out the back of your skull, and zooming up to rendezvous with Newt’s space colony on the moon circa 2100. Just to emphasize, this isn’t the doom-laden dystopian fancy of a right-wing apocalyptic loon like me; it’s the official Oval Office version of where America’s headed. In the New York Times–approved “responsible budget” there is no attempt even to pretend to bend the debt curve into something approaching reentry with reality.  link

Please take the few moments to read Steyn’s complete two-page article at NR Online, while I leave you with the last two paragraphs of his article:

Glenn Reynolds, the Instapundit, distills the current hysteria thus: “It’s as if we passed a law requiring mosques to sell bacon and then, when people objected, responded by saying ‘What’s wrong with bacon? You’re trying to ban bacon!!!!’”

Americans foolish enough to fall for the Democrats’ crude bit of misdirection can hardly complain about their rendezvous with the sharp end of that page-58 budget graph. People are free to buy bacon, and free to buy condoms. But the state has no compelling interest to force either down your throat. The notion that an all-powerful government would distract from its looming bankruptcy by introducing a universal contraceptive mandate would strike most novelists as almost too pat in its symbolism. It’s like something out of Brave New World. Except that it’s cowardly, and, like so much else about the sexual revolution, very old and wrinkled.

If we can not see through these outright deceptions and distractions on the part of Obama and the Democrats, (and their fawning liberal media), how many more Contraception Cons will they be running in the coming months ahead?  Keep your eyes on the ball folks, because,  IT’S STILL THE ECONOMY—STUPID! 

This morning I could not sign into my Facebook account without jumping through hoops that included resetting my password and confirming my information required to maintain the use of this popular social network site.  With the explosion of the quest for online information and the advent of social networking—mostly free to the public—conglomerates like Facebook, Google, Yahoo, etc, are vying for the collection of consumer’s information in a multi-billion dollar industry of direct advertising.  Personal Privacy settings and the “opt-out options” are becoming alarmingly non-existent with “policy changes” either the consumer does not understand or is not functionally capable of comprehending.  Yet these “mega-networks” will tell you these changes are necessary to maintain the integrity of your privacy.  Their favorite phrase/buzz-words are called “validating or confirming the user identity”.

Yesterday, Breitbart posted an AFP story titled “Facebook dabbles with validating user identity” which might explain my need to “re-confirm” my status with Facebook, (even though I don’t really “qualify” to be in any of these categories mentioned):

“Facebook on Thursday began testing a way for celebrities, journalists, athletes and others with massive followings to have their identities validated at the globally popular online social network.

“The new process enables people to verify their identities by submitting a government issued ID,” Facebook said in an email response to an AFP inquiry.”  link

You can assume their motives for the “testing” at your own risk, but during my personal “re-confirmation” the site kept prompting me to insert my telephone number, (which was still listed in the original content of opening the account).  The process also required that I receive a new email verification notice to reset my password, all under the auspices of “privacy protection“.  Draw your own conclusions.

Google has also been drawing critical attention lately with their new tracking policies.  Under their new guidelines/features, (according to this DailyMail article), there seems to be no more “opt-out” options available to the user:

“Google has been savaged by critics after revealing plans to link user data across its email, video, social-networking and other services.

In a move denounced by some as a massive invasion of privacy, the changes will piece together information from Gmail to YouTube to the Google Plus social network.” link

There’s more information at the link.  The popular tech site Gizmodo didn’t appear to be pleased with Google’s new policies, calling it The End of “Don’t Be Evil“, and even today reported news from a WSJ report that Google is now tracking iPhones without permission:

“A report from the Wall Street Journal suggests that Google has been bypassing the privacy settings of millions of Safari users, by tracking the browsing habits of people, even if they thought they had blocked such monitoring.

The WSJ explains how Google has developed code that installs cookies on a users’ device—without their permission—from adverts contained in web pages. Once installed, however, those cookies have allowed Google to track browsing across the majority of websites.” link

In defense of Google, the Gizmodo link also includes an updated statement, (a must read), directly from Rachel Whetstone, Senior Vice President of Communications and Public Policy at Google, explaining what this “tech-savvy rookie” admittedly can barely understand.  Please feel free to elaborate in the comments section.

Personally, my bottom line synopsis/opinion of this information and social networking explosion is: if you opt-in/sign up, (or even link or connect to these websites), you will be forgoing any expectation of explicit or implied privacy with the “options” becoming more and more limited.  And it’s becoming an issue concerning millions of users.

In a effort to promote a “positive atmosphere” about the Republican Primary Candidates, (instead of shredding Reagan’s Eleventh Commandment), I thought it would be refreshing to publish a few “guest post” here in the Green Room who would offer a more positive perspective of their preferred candidate. Comments and constructive criticism are welcome.

The Mitt Riff, or why we will be okay if Mitt Romney survives the 2012 GOP primary gauntlet and becomes our nominee.

In two words: Moderate conservatism. One can argue that the totality of the heresies Mitt has committed against conservatism make him unfit to carry the conservative banner against Obama. As for the heresies, you would probably be dead on. They are there, so I won’t argue their existence, but rather will argue why they aren’t as bad as are perceived and in the end why they shouldn’t unduly concern conservatives.

I will not take the time to list them all but rather the positions I feel are the most problematic.

1) Romneycare. Even though Romneycare is an anathema to conservatism, Romney did not implement it as an experiment in social engineering as Obamacare was. It was an attempt to deal with a fiscal issue facing the state concerning the way it was spending federal dollars. They had to develop a plan to spend it differently in order to continue to receive it. The coalition that supported the law was varied and bipartisan. Romney could have opted for a true single payer plan had he been so inclined. Especially in the blue state of MA. But he presented a plan based on fiscal conservatism.

The constitution of the state of Massachusetts allows for the mandate, which is in complete harmony with the tenth amendment. The governor has promised to waive, defund, and then repeal Obamacare and return the responsibility to the states. His commitments to the tenth amendment restrictions on the federal government make his promise entirely believable.

2) Bain Capital. The criticisms by “conservatives” on his time with Bain are baffling. All data indicates that all his dealings were entirely legal and ethical. As a venture capital entity, Bain must make money for their investors. And Bain outperformed the market in that area. 70% of the businesses they invested in were saved from default. Many went on to be very successful entities that now employ collectively over 100,000 Americans. By contrast, the market achieved roughly a 50% rate of success.

The Obama machine is certainly gearing up to face Romney. The OWS protests were fueled by class warfare rhetoric that is parroted by prominent democrat politicians. Romney is the 1% and he will be portrayed as a walls street fat cat. I believe that except for his mishandling of the tax return issue, he is establishing a narrative that will counter the negative view the country in general has toward the wealthy. First, he is knowledgeable on the workings of the free market and has explained how these entities are improving the lives of everyone in this country. He promotes the idea that he wants all Americans to become wealthy and that opportunity comes through freedom and responsibility. He doesn’t talk down wealth creation for the masses.

3) Lack of passion. This is probably the only thing holding Romney back from running away from the field and winning the nomination with the rest of the states. It is clear he is a technocrat. A very useful trait for a president, but not a good trait for a politician. Even though he is by all personal accounts a kind, thoughtful, and compassionate man, he comes off as aloof and unable to relate to the common man while he is politicking. A person is either born with the ability to connect with strangers or must acquire the skills by practice. Romney is unmistakably in the latter category. I have no advice for him except to cease trying to manage his every word as technocrats are wont to do. He projects his attention to detail onto all people and feels and misspeak on his part will be a huge issue. This simply is not the case. I myself am somewhat of a technocrat and when Romney said in the Ingram interview that the “economy was getting better”, I nearly came unglued! I figured the media would hang that around his neck like a millstone for weeks. But it was over in just a few days. I think he should be more open with what he really feels and cease trying to be the “perfect” politician.

The last issue is his debate performances. It is widely agreed that he has been very steady and consistent. This is good until you become boring. And Romney has become predictable reliable and predictable banal. He has moments of brilliance as was evident in the debate Monday night. He showed that he can be forceful, pointed, and very effective. But he also has moments when he is inexplicable clumsy. But the good moments outweigh the bad and that has been a consistent trend. I believe that the drive that is part of his nature is what has helped him become a better candidate as this primary season has progressed and will be the drive that overcomes his weakness in relating to people and having more passion in the general sense.

In conclusion, the governor has a rare quality that is overlooked in people who are successful. He is in the same league with as the star athletes, musicians, and other who excel, in that they make it look so easy that we forget how difficult it really is. His drive to succeed has made him successful at nearly every endeavor in which he has begun. He survived a head-on automobile accident, graduated from Harvard, was recruited right out of school, started Bain Capital, saved the Olympics, and became the moderate conservative governor of a blue state in which he accomplished a lot for the citizens. He has spent his entire life outside of Washington and except for the associations all politicians need from Washington, he is the antithesis of the DC insider. His credentials as a fiscal hawk are impeccable and that is what we need in these troubling times. His character is beyond reproach, he is honest, and is a devoted husband and father. A deeply faithful man who I believe is guided by principles that are sorely lacking in our elected officials.

Short of Ronald Reagan rising from the grave, Mitt Romney is the only candidate we have who exhibits the ability to combine knowledge, experience, grace, honor, and the discipline that we need in our next president, whose job it will be to extricate us out of the abyss Barack Obama has propelled us into with his Marxist social engineering policies. For these reasons I say to my fellow conservatives….

Fear not…..for faith precedes the miracle.

(Note: The author has requested to remain anonymous at this time)

Update: I was still asleep this morning and must have been prospecting—Perspective is the correct term—thanks……Rov

While I’m sure Ed will have a thread up on the main page on Sunday, why not start the conversation.  There’s certainly plenty to talk about after last weekend where two teams that were expected to win, didn’t, leaving two top ranked quarterbacks in the NFL sitting at home on Sunday.

The NFC

The battle at Candlestick between the Saints and Niners was one for the ages pitting the Saints #1 ranked offense against one of the best defenses.  Yet few predicted that Alex Smith and the Niners would put 36 points on the board, and as it turned out they needed almost every point.  Drew Brees did not disappoint with his aerial show going 40/63 with 435 yards in the air.  But the Niners defense and special teams proved to be the difference in the end picking up five turnovers by the Saints.  The Niners also completely shut down the Saints ground game with 14 carries and only 37 yards, basically making the Saints a one dimensional team.  But it would take a 14 yard strike from Alex Smith to Vernon Davis with nine seconds left on the clock for the Niners to pull out the victory.  The 49ers will face the New York Giants at home this Sunday in the late game, (3:30 pm Pacific—6:30 pm ET), on FOX.  Both teams are coming off tremendous emotional highs by defeating their favored foes last weekend.

Arguably, the hottest team in the NFL took down Aaron Rogers and the vaunted Packers with relative ease on Sunday 37-20.  Rusty, and emotionally drained were the words I heard the most about the Packer’s poor play, and counting the starters that were rested in their last game against Detroit, sports pundits thought the Packers had lost some momentum in an otherwise stellar 15-1 season.  But the 49ers, Ravens, and Patriots all won their division games with a similar length of rest.  All that said, it is this football fan’s opinion that the Giants just flat out took the Packers to the woodshed while exposing the worst rated defense in the NFL giving up an average of  411.6 yds per game and 299 average thru the air.  Eli Manning went 21/33 for 330 yards and three TD’s while throwing just one INT.  Sporting a 27^th ranked defense themselves, the Giants played relentless recovering three fumbles while forcing Rogers to scramble often away from his comfort zone.  If the Giants play anywhere near this level on Sunday, they will have a legitimate shot at playing in the Superbowl.

The AFC

Over in the AFC, Tom Brady and the New England Patriots were anything but rusty as the Pats put up 35 points in the first half against Tim Tebow and the Broncos before coasting to a 45-10 victory.  Brady’s offense looked like a well oiled machine in each of their drives while Denver could find nothing to stop them.  Brady went 26/34 for 363 yards and playoff record six TD’s.  The Patriots will host the Baltimore Ravens in the AFC Championship game at 1:00 pm Pacific, (3:00 pm ET), on CBS.

In the Sunday morning game the Baltimore Ravens held off a stubborn Houston Texan’s team 20-13 setting the stage for another classic between the Ravens and the Patriots.  The Ravens intercepted T.J. Yates three times and the Texans’ lost a fumble setting the tone for a sloppy game.  I looked like Yates was forcing the ball into tight coverage several times instead of finding his check down receivers.  Both teams played decent defense, yet the Ravens gave up 132 yards to Arian Foster, but the turnovers were just too much for the Texans to overcome.  I’m thinking this Houston team will be back in the playoffs and a force in the AFC South for many years to come.

So, who’s going the BIG SHOW?  Some one said the NFL was already printing Patriots-Giants tee shirts.  While I’m not sure how the AFC Championship game will turn out, I think the Niners defense will shut down Eli and the Giants enough to put the “Gold-Diggers” back into another Superbowl after a long drought.

Of course, most of you should know by now I’m a lifelong 49er “Faithful”.

Update:  Injury Report Added

Complete injury report here at the NFL SITE  (Note: the Patriot’s injury report is longer than the other three teams combined—wonder how much of this damage came from the Texans???

Giants Injury Report  (provided by the BleacherReport)

Questionable

TE Jake Ballard (knee)

Probable

RB Ahmad Bradshaw (foot)

QB Eli Manning (illness)

C David Bass (illness)

LB Mark Herzlich (ankle)

CB Corey Webster (hamstring)

DE Justin Tuck (shoulder)

DE Osi Umenyiora (ankle)

WR Hakeem Nicks (ankle)

49ers Injury Report

Questionable

CB Tarell Brown (thigh)

WR Ted Ginn (knee)

C Jonathan Goodwin (calf)

LB Patrick Willis (knee)

S Dashon Goldson (ankle)

TE Delanie Walker (jaw)

The Ravens Injury Report is only listing safety Ed Reed (ankle) as probable.  As I’ve mentioned above, the Pat’s IR reads like a laundry list of “owies” and you can see it at this same Ravens link.

Via the First Street Journal, during an interview with the Philadelphia Inquirer Editorial Board, the political switch-hitter Arlen Specter suggested that it’s not Joe Biden that Hillary Clinton should replace:

Should President Obama dump Joe Biden as his running mate and replace him with Hillary Rodham Clinton?

Arlen Specter was asked that hot-potato question, circulating in some Democratic circles, in a meeting Tuesday with the Inquirer Editorial Board.

His answer showed that the former 30-year senator hasn’t lost his knack for blunt talk – nor, perhaps, his bitterness over what he feels were slights from Obama during his own failed 2010 reelection campaign.

He suggested that maybe Obama was the one who should be dumped.

“That’s the second-best alternative,” he said of replacing Biden. “A better alternative is to make Hillary the [presidential] nominee. As long as we’re talking about dumping, let’s go to the core problem.”  link

Specter’s disdain for Obama using him as a temporary tool also drew sharp criticism from the former Pennsylvania Senator:

“But he had some strong words for Obama. In his new book, copies of which have been released to reporters, he describes several opportunities in the final weeks of the 2010 campaign when Obama could have helped him by campaigning more for him in Pennsylvania – and did not.

One time late in the race, he wrote, Obama flew over Philadelphia on the way to a political appearance in New York. Another time, he flew over Pittsburgh on the way to Ohio.

“President Obama has done fairly well under fairly difficult circumstances,” he said Tuesday. “He has his limitations. He is not experienced, and it shows.”

He said Obama had been hampered because “he has a problem with listening. In a roomful of people, he’s always the smartest guy in the room – and always has to prove it.”  link

Is Mr. Specter showing his bitterness at being thrown under the bus by Obama?  Perhaps, but after three and a half years of NOT LISTENING to the American public on the President’s disastrous spending policies, we might take notice of Arlen Specter’s observation about Obama’s “limited experience”.  You would think our Republican candidates could focus a bit more on these apparent flaws, instead of tearing each other apart and loading the Democrat’s arsenal with disparaging sound bites—are you LISTENING Newt and Rick?

PICK A WINNER!

Update: End of first quarter—Bama 3, Tigers 0

You can watch the game online live on ESPN……click here and then on the “watch live” tab in the middle of the screen.

Update:  End of Half—Alabama 9, LSU 0  ………LSU has one first down and 43 total yards of offense to Bama’s 225 yds.  It’s going to be a barnburner folks.

Update: End of three—Alabama 15, LSU 0  ………

Update:  Final Score—Alabama 21, LSU 0

(note: I’ll try to post Nielson Ratings tomorrow)

UPDATE: TV RATINGS LOWEST SINCE BCS ERA

Alabama-LSU produces lowest TV rating for national championship in BCS era

NEW ORLEANS — Alabama loved a rematch. Not so much of the rest of the country.

It turns out most television viewers didn’t want to see Alabama-LSU again, at least not an uncompetitive rematch.

Overnight ratings for Alabama’s 21-0 victory over LSU were the lowest for a national championship in the 14-year history of the BCS. The All-SEC affair, the first championship pairing teams from the same conference, drew a 13.8 overnight rating on ESPN. The previous record low was a 14.3 for Miami-Nebraska at the 2002 Rose Bowl.

To put last night’s rating in perspective, Alabama-LSU on Nov. 5 drew an 11.5 on CBS. Last night’s game was down 14 percent from Auburn’s three-point victory over Oregon last year. It was down 24 percent from Alabama’s last national championship when the Crimson Tide defeated Texas in 2010.

Alabama-LSU capped a disappointing ratings year for the BCS on ESPN. Even before Monday night, the BCS’ 7.3 average rating was down 10 percent from the 2010 season and 21 percent from 2009, when the games aired on Fox.

The Rose, Orange, Sugar and BCS Championship all took ratings hits this season. West Virginia’s 70-33 rout of Clemson at the Orange Bowl drew just a 4.5 rating, making it the lowest-rated game in BCS history….  (read the whole story here)

Exit question: Would the ratings have been higher if it was aired on a non-cable station?  Or was it the match-up?

Houston’s back into the lead 17-10.    No predictions on who’s going to win this one.

Update:Final score Texans 31, Bengals 10

Texans/Bengals Box Score

The Texans have earned a date in Baltimore against the Ravens after winning the franchise’s first playoff game at home against the Bengals 31-10.

Do the Lions have a chance against the Saints at home?  Or, in the Tebow-eese sense, do the Saints get thrown to the Lions?

Update:  Final score: Saints 45, Lions 28

Saints/Lions Box Score

The Saints move on to face the 49ers in the divisional round. For the Saints to advance to their third NFC championship game in six seasons, they’ll have to do something they’ve never done before — win a road playoff game.

Bottom line:  You’re not going to win many games against a team that is #1 in team offense, (Saints), and your team, (Detroit), is ranked #23 in total team defense.

(note: The Saints are ranked #24 in total team defense for the season)

We’ll see what happens next week when this high powered offense meets a San Francisco team that ranks #4 in total defense, #2 in points allowed (14.3), and #1 in rushing yards allowed, (77.3)

Falcons @ Giants

Offensively, these two teams are not far apart with the Giants at #8 and the Falcons at #10.  On defense the Falcons rank #12 overall in the league and #6 in rushing yards allowed, (97.0).  Conversely, the Giants #27 in total team defense giving up an average of 121 yds on the ground, and 255 yds through the air.  With the home field advantage going to the G-Men, this game should be fairly close when they reach the fourth quarter.  It could come down to who has the fewest turnovers or special teams play.

Steelers @ Broncos

Ben vs. Tim.  The Steelers visit the confines of Mile High Stadium ranked #1 in total defense in the league with Denver at #20.  On offense, the Steelers are ranked #12 with the Broncos at #23, however they both rank towards the bottom of the league in average points scored, Steelers #21 at 20.3 and Broncos #25 at 19.3.  If the Steelers play up to their defensive ranking, they should come out on top of this road game setting up a date with New England in Foxboro.

According to the Sacramento Bee, Jerry Brown had to scramble on Thursday to get ahead of his message of raising taxes on Californians when his budget was inadvertently posted on his Department of Finance website.  The Governor’s $92.6 billion spending plan also comes with a threat of further cuts if Californians don’t approve his plan to raise taxes ever higher.  The nonpartisan Tax Foundation ranks California as the third highest tax rate on individual incomes.  But Jerry’s not happy with this ranking and is proposing another 6.9 billion in increases:

Gov. Jerry Brown released a new budget Thursday that would slash health and welfare programs for the poor and ask voters to pump nearly $5 billion back into education through higher taxes.

Brown framed his $92.6 billion spending plan as an either-or decision dependent on his $6.9 billion initiative to increase taxes on sales and the state’s high earners.

If voters approve his taxes, he suggested, the state could begin paying down years of debt and reverse recession-era cuts to K-12 schools, which have stuffed more students into classrooms and shortened the instructional calendar to save funds.

“With the tax program, we will eliminate the budget deficit finally, after years of kicking the can down the road,” Brown said.

Let’s get one fact straight out of the Golden Gate; the California State Legislature, (controlled by Democrats all the way back to Willie Brown—15 years as its Speaker—and beyond) has been OVERSPENDING AND KICKING THE CAN DOWN THE ROAD for decades.  To his credit,  Arnold Schwarzenegger attempted to make sweeping changes in the budget through the proposition process and every initiative, (including putting a cap state spending), was shot down by California’s two powerhouse political forces — public employee unions and Democrats who controlled the Legislature.

Instead of addressing one of the largest expenditures in the state budget—retirement liabilities for state employees, ($500 billion in 2010)—Brown says if his state tax increase proposal isn’t accepted, according to the Bee, he will recommend further cuts in education and welfare programs that will hardly affect projected budget deficits from 9.2 to 12.8 billion:

“Even without his higher taxes through 2016, Brown described an improving fiscal landscape as the recovering economy provides more tax dollars and the state maintains cuts to higher education, health care and social services.

The Department of Finance estimated that the state faces a $9.2 billion deficit over the next 18 months, substantially less than the $26 billion gap he described last January and smaller than the $12.8 billion gap the nonpartisan Legislative Analyst’s Office forecast in November.”

The latest polling on Governor Brown’s tax increase proposal comes from the California (PPIC), report showing up to 60% of Californians in favor, and the poll was touted across the Golden State by the media, but,  (AND IT‘S A BIG BUT),  the California Republican Party  is saying “look at the question that PPIC presented:

SACRAMENTO — California Republican Party Communications Director Mark Standriff today issued the following statement on the PPIC poll report on their question, “Governor Brown has proposed a plan to help close the state’s budget deficit over the next five years. The plan, which would be put before voters in November, would raise $7 billion annually through a temporary four-year half cent sales tax increase and a temporary five year income tax increase on those earning more than $250,000. Do you favor or oppose this proposal?“:

“Yesterday, a poll on Gov. Brown’s latest tax hike measure proposal was released purporting to show public support for higher taxes. Incredibly, the poll question was framed in terms of deficit reduction, even though real world experience shows that there’s no correlation between raising taxes and reducing the deficit, or else California certainly would have no deficit problems by now.

“The results would have been dramatically different if the PPIC had asked: ‘Despite having the highest tax and regulatory burden in country, Jerry Brown would like to raise your taxes to pay for an expansion of government. Do you favor or oppose this proposal?’ Californians have turned down the last seven attempts to force budget fixes on the backs of taxpayers, and they will certainly see through manipulated polling to turn down another ill-advised tax hike by Jerry Brown.”  *Emphasis mine   (link)

On a final note, (for now), during my search of the news media who reported this PPIC poll, I found it curious that where comments were allowed, a huge percentage of commenters were STRONGLY NOT IN FAVOR OF THE TAX HIKE.  Here’s just a few examples:

#1) California has the 3rd highest individual tax rate in the US and the 8th highest corporate rate. Small businesses are usually taxed at the individual tax rate in California. In a state that ranks in the top ranks of teacher salaries and near the bottom in achievement and which attracts not only illegals but people from other states for the welfare benefits, we are slipping into bankruptcy soon. For the producers it appears time to move to greener pastures.

#2) Of course that 60 % is in favor of it…its not their money…if the top 18 percent, who pay 85% of the states taxes already, continue to get targeted, it wont be long until they leave the state for greener pastures…I would, if I were them.

#3) Raising taxes does not raise revenue!

204 companies left California in 2011 citing high taxation.  According to the Orange County Register 33 companies from their region went to Texas, 18 Arizona, 15 Colorado, 13 Nevada and 13 to Utah, all citing taxes as part of their reason for moving.

California will receive $0.00 in revenue from those 204 companies.

Pay Pal Inc. went to Malaysia.  Intel expanded in Ireland, Vietnam and china.  Cisco Systems spent 41 million in Russia.

And here’s the “money quote” from a local publication:

The governor’s tax plan would generate $7 billion dollars a year, for five years, then the taxes go away. The legislative analyst projects the state’s budget deficit next year will be $13 billion.

Got that?  It’s only for five years and then the tax increase goes away.  Given the history of the Liberal Democratic Controlled Legislature—don’t bet on it.

“Republicans are watching closely to see if President Obama attempts to make what’s called “recess appointments” in the coming days. In early December, Senate Republicans stymied the president by blocking his effort to install former Ohio Attorney General Richard Cordray as the head of the new and controversial Consumer Financial Protection Bureau. Cordray never scored an actual, up-or-down vote in the Senate. Most Republicans voted against a Democratic-led effort to cut off debate on Cordray’s nomination. The vote was 53-45 but needed 60 to break the filibuster.

There are also questions as to whether Mr. Obama might attempt to go the recess appointment route to dispatch figures to the federal bench as the Senate failed to clear eight of the president’s judicial nominees before the end of December. And some speculate that the president could also use recess appointments to place several individuals on the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB).”

But, here’s the “catch 22”:

So, without the consent of both chambers of Congress, the House and Senate have continued to meet at three day intervals for all of 2011. When legislative business finally wrapped in Washington for the year a few days ago, neither the House nor Senate offered what’s called an “adjournment resolution.” That would have allowed both chambers to abandon town for a longer period of time. Such an adjournment resolution would have made it easy for President Obama to make a recess appointment if he desired. But without both houses of Congress making an adjournment pact, there was no virtually no opportunity for the president to make a recess appointment.

Except potentially between the first and second sessions of the 112th Congress.

There’s significant debate about whether this narrow window between the first and second sessions is the only chance a president could have to circumvent the traditional confirmation process and make a recess appointment.

So the Senate is on track to move between the first and second sessions of the 112th Congress. Just seven times in its history has Congress had an intersession of less than a day in its history. In January, 1996, Congress hermetically air-locked the end of the first session the 104th Congress up against the second session by a matter of seconds. The Senate convened for the final meeting of the first session of the 104th Congress at 11:55 am on January 3, 1996. The second session was scheduled to start at noon. Once the Senate finished its bookkeeping for that brief meeting, it adjourned…for all of 15 seconds. It then launched the second session of the 104th Congress. (read the entire article here)

Obama may actually plan to use the window of opportunity, when the 111^th Congress gavels out and the 112^th gavels in—which could be a matter of seconds—to make his recess appointments.

I’d venture a guess that Republican strategist are watching this potential maneuver closely, as well as Democrats who might be looking to the future, just in case next year there’s a President with an R behind his name.  (apologies to Michelle Bachmann)

Slightly interesting that much of the self inflicted bourgeois media is not much ado about this?  Politico, in a similar story, sites a couple of law professors saying that “Republicans are obstructing the process” while failing to even mention who created this fiasco in the first place.  A commenter at Politico summed up Obama’s predicament quite well:

“Funny that the same hardcore lefties that are screeching about the Republicans and pushing the president to use a 2-second break to “Jam” through his radical nominees are the same ones who supported Pelosi and Reid when they did the same thing to Bush by keeping the session open, thus denying him the ability to recess appoint anyone. Had G.W used a couple Min. break to shove his blocked nominees through like the left is trying to do now, it would have been “Nuclear”, “Unprecedented” and “Reckless”.

I hope the leftwing progs understand that once Oblunder does this that they will never again be able to stop a Republican President from doing the same thing.”

As they say, the ball’s now in Obama’s court.  Harry Reid and Nancy Pelosi set this table/rules that prevented Bush from making any recess appointments.  If Obama chooses to circumvent this process, it may be at the peril of his own party and future appointments that Democrats might not embrace—eating the fruit from their own poisonous tree.

Update:  I missed Ed Morrissey’s story on this  on Dec. 28th; (I think it was while I was literally stranded at SFO for three hours waiting for the fog to lift) Apologies for being repetitive.

At 1:00 pm eastern, we’ve got three games, all pitting the Big Ten against the SEC:

Outback  Michigan State vs. Georgia~~~Final: Michigan St. 33  Georgia 30 Triple Overtime!

Capital One   Nebraska vs. South Carolina~~~Final: South Carolina 30  Nebraska 13

Taxslayer.com Gator Bowl   Ohio State vs. Florida~~~Final:  Florida 24  Ohio St. 17

Rose Bowl Game presented by Vizio…….  (5pm Eastern)   Wisconsin vs. Oregon~~~Update: 14-14 (early second quarter)  Update: 21-21 (10:36 left in first half)  Update: 28-28 Halftime  Update: Wisconsin 38, Oregon 35 (3:58 left in 3rd qtr.)  Update: 918 yards of offense….Oregon 42, Wisconsin 38

Final Score:  Oregon 45 ~ Wisconsin 38

Tostitos Fiesta………………(8:30 pm Eastern)   Stanford vs. Oklahoma State    Update: Stanford 21, Oklahoma State 21 at halftime.…..who’s surprised?

The Sugar, Orange, and Cotton Bowls are played throughout the rest of the week leading up to the Championship game next Monday, January 9^th.  I would venture a guess that serious college football fans that are married or have “significant others” in their lives will be testing their relationships by the time ESPN and the NCAA get through spreading out the Bowl season, but hey, it’s all about the money, right?

For those of you who just want to follow the scores online, there’s an SI link here and an ESPN link here.  (I think ESPN is also streaming some live games for free, but I’ll have to check it out and get back here for an update)

Happy New Year Everyone!

National Football Conference

Playoff picture almost set, and all roads end up in Green Bay (provided they don’t get upset before the NFC Championship game).  The Forty Niners can clinch the #2 seed in the NFC with a win over the Rams in Saint Louis.  A Niner loss and a New Orleans win puts the Saints in the #2 spot.  I predict both the Niners and the Saints will win their games on Sunday.

The last NFC playoff spot (still not decided) will be between the Cowboys and the Giants in the late game on NBC—winner takes the Division, loser goes home to wonder what might have been.  Both teams have potentially explosive offenses and “shaky” defenses, with a slight edge to the Cowboys.  I’ll take the Giants to win in a close game, 27-23.

Green Bay should finish 15-1 by defeating Detroit in the frozen tundra.  Aaron Rogers may play only the first half when/if the Packers get out to a comfortable 20-point lead.  If the Lions are with in 7 points at the half, Detroit pulls this game out in a wild finish, as the Packer’s coaching staff pulls their starters in this meaningless game.

American Football Conference

The AFC Playoff picture is a bit muddier with Denver in the driver‘s seat—win, and they clinch the Division.  Denver is at home against Kyle Orton and those pesky Chiefs who ended the Packer’s perfect season two weeks ago.  Ironically, Orton was released from the Broncos roster November 22^nd, and the move, (saving 2.5 million), may come back to haunt them.   Oakland and Cincinnati would prefer a Denver loss, yet the Bengals get the final wild card slot by just winning.  Believe it or not, the Jets and the Titans still are mathematically “in the chase” for the final wild card spot, but they’ll need a lot of help.

Finally, the Ravens and Steelers are vying for the Division title and a first round bye.  However, the Ravens could seal home field throughout the playoffs with a win and a Patriot loss, but I don’t see the Pat’s losing at home to the Bills who are 1-7 in their last eight games.  (yeah, they beat Tebow, but really, how good are the Broncos?) Since the Steelers “should” beat the Browns, the Ravens/Bengals game might be the best game of the weekend with much on the line for both teams.

Playoff Scenarios (provided by ESPN):

NEW ENGLAND PATRIOTS

New England clinches home-field advantage throughout AFC playoffs:

1) NE win or tie

2) BAL loss or tie + PIT loss or tie

BALTIMORE RAVENS

Baltimore clinches AFC North Division and a first-round bye:

1) BAL win

2) BAL tie + PIT loss or tie

3) PIT loss

Baltimore clinches home-field advantage throughout AFC playoffs:

1) BAL win + NE loss

PITTSBURGH STEELERS

Pittsburgh clinches AFC North Division and a first-round bye:

1) PIT win + BAL loss or tie

2) PIT tie + BAL loss

Pittsburgh clinches home-field advantage throughout AFC playoffs:

1) PIT win + BAL loss or tie + NE loss

DENVER BRONCOS

Denver clinches AFC West Division:

1) DEN win

2) DEN tie + OAK loss or tie

3) OAK loss

OAKLAND RAIDERS

Oakland clinches AFC West Division:

1) OAK win + DEN loss or tie

2) OAK tie + DEN loss

Oakland clinches a wild-card spot:

1) OAK win + CIN loss + TEN loss or tie

2) OAK win + CIN loss + NYJ win

CINCINNATI BENGALS

Cincinnati clinches a wild-card spot:

1) CIN win or tie

2) NYJ loss or tie + OAK loss or tie

3) NYJ loss or tie + DEN loss or tie

NEW YORK JETS

NY Jets clinch a wild-card spot:

1) NYJ win + CIN loss + TEN loss or tie + OAK loss or tie

2) NYJ win + CIN loss + TEN loss or tie + DEN loss or tie

TENNESSEE TITANS

Tennessee clinches a wild-card spot:

1) TEN win + CIN loss + NYJ win + OAK loss or tie

2) TEN win + CIN loss + NYJ win + DEN loss or tie

3) TEN win + CIN loss + NYJ loss or tie + OAK win + DEN win

One final note: Tom Brady did not practice Wednesday or Thursday to rest his left shoulder that got banged up in the game against Miami last week.  Brady is still in the running to pass Drew Brees’ passing record that was held by Dan Marino for the past 27 years.   Brees now has 5,087 passing yards this season,  (190 more yards than Brady) heading into the final week.  The Saints might be doing a bit of “scoreboard watching”.  If the Forty Niners are “handling” the Rams early, the Saints may rest Brees and some key starters, since the game would/could also become meaningless.

* College Football note:  15 7-5 and 14 6-6 Teams ????  29 teams in bowl games, (counting UCLA 6-7)

So, with 119 FBS schools, out of the 35 Bowl Games this holiday season, 29 teams have  “qualified” for a bowl game by the BCS/NCAA with either a .500 record or one game better.  On Monday, January 2^nd, the college bowl games do “heat up” with some good match-ups, leading us up to the grand finalee in the Superdome on January 9th.  And of course, if Alabama beats LSU in the Championship Game…….who’s NUMBER ONE???  Playoffs?  Playoffs?  We don’t need no stinking playoffs!

Happy New Year Everyone!  And please, if you go out tonight to celebrate, remember that a Cab Driver—or even a Limo Driver—is way cheaper than a DUI.  Stay safe.

Rov

“Obama is defending a tradition that sees government as an essential actor in the nation’s economy, a guarantor of fair rules of competition, a countervailing force against excessive private power, a check on the inequalities that capitalism can produce, and an instrument that can open opportunity for those born without great advantages.

Today’s Republicans cast the federal government as an oppressive force, a drag on the economy and an enemy of private initiative. Texas Gov. Rick Perry continues to promise, as he did last week during a campaign stop in Davenport, Iowa, to be a president who would make “Washington, D.C., as inconsequential in your life as he can make it.” That far-reaching word “inconsequential” implies a lot more than trims in budgets or taxes.”

You see here Mr. Dionne would have Democrats, (and more importantly, independents), believe that the central government is the traditional arbiter in driving the nation’s economy, and Obama is our saving grace to protect us all from those greedy capitalist pigs—OWS 101.  Further, E.J. suggest that the government can “open opportunities” for the disadvantaged while he smugly dismisses that this could be provided by the private sector.  Dionne thinks that all private sector businesses possess “excessive power,” which can be reined in only by Obama’s insight.  But Dionne mistakes arrogant shallowness for insight.  Indeed the problem of the last three years has been that middle class Americans have unfortunately been mere spectators in a contest between Obama’s shallowness and his arrogance.

Mr. Dionne proceeds to “substantiate” his disdain for the GOP by soliciting two of his  liberal colleagues:

“The GOP is engaged in a wholesale effort to redefine the government help that Americans take for granted as an effort to create a radically new, statist society. Consider Romney’s claim in his Bedford speech: “President Obama believes that government should create equal outcomes. In an entitlement society, everyone receives the same or similar rewards, regardless of education, effort and willingness to take risk. That which is earned by some is redistributed to the others. And the only people who truly enjoy any real rewards are those who do the redistributing — the government.”

Obama believes no such thing. If he did, why are so many continuing to make bundles on Wall Street? As my colleagues Greg Sargent and Paul Krugman have been insisting, Romney is saying things about the president that are flatly, grossly and shamefully untrue.

But Romney’s sleight of hand is revealing: Republicans are increasingly inclined to argue that any redistribution (and Social Security, Medicare, student loans, veterans benefits and food stamps are all redistributive) is but a step down the road to some radically egalitarian dystopia.”

To begin, Sargent and Krugman are hardly impartial arbiters of whether things said about Obama are untrue.  Indeed each has their own proven problems with the “truth.”  More to the point, this argument is simply a non sequitur:  that so many are continuing to “make bundles” shows nothing about Obama’s beliefs about redistribution.  His admiration for Marxists during his college years and his response to Joe the Plumber that redistribution is a good thing is a far better indication of the One’s beliefs.  Moreover, the fact that many continue to make bundles on Wall Street is far more of an indication of the extent of Obama’s cronyism than anything else — the majority of Wall Street money goes to Democrats and Obama…or does anyone think that the ties that bind Immelt to Obama have nothing to do with politics?

Only in the delusionally sycophantic world of E.J. Dionne would Obama be considered a conservative.

(East of Eden contributed to this post)

Special thanks to Townhall.com, Ed Morrissey, Allahpundit, (and our newest addition Tina), for all you do to make Hot Air such a success.  And an extra special thanks to Michelle Malkin and Jessie for the many years of contribution to this endeavor.

Rov

Addendum:  Also, a very Merry Christmas to all my fellow Captain’s Quarters folks (who followed Ed over here to HA), and to my special friend and fellow commenter Keemo, who encouraged me to join here.  Many blessings to all of you.

PITTSBURGH (KDKA) — Police say they stole thousands of dollars in cash and goods, and then posed with their loot and posted the photos to a popular social media site.

Police say the three suspects, along with another teen, posted the photos on Facebook about an hour after they burglarized Elliott’s Town Market on Chartiers Avenue in the West End.

“We received information the day after the burglary that these pictures were posted on Facebook, and if you look at the pictures, you can see that the individuals are holding a large amount of cash,” Sgt. Kevin Gasiorowski, of the Pittsburgh Police, said.

Officials say $8,000 cash isn’t the only thing the teens took from Elliott’s.

“Numerous boxes and cartons of cigarettes, cartons of candy, checks and approximately $8,000 dollars in cash,” Sgt. Gasiorowski said.

A family member of one of the teens is the one who spotted the pictures online and tipped off police, officials said.

Now if we can get Jon Corzine to sign up for Facebook.  Or Eric Holder?  Could you just see the headlines?  “CASH AND WEAPONS DISCOVERED ON FACEBOOK POST—CRIMINAL INDICTMENTS EXPECTED”

On Wednesday, the Politico ran a story about the International Association of Machinists Union at Boeing agreeing to approve a contract extension, the result of which ultimately led to the National Labor Relations Board dropping its controversial decision to prevent the company from beginning to operate a mostly-constructed plant in South Carolina.

Politico ran their story with this photo:

With the liberal media, and the ACLU in full tilt rejection of voter ID requirements that will prevent voter fraud, is it just a bit ironic that Politico, and the rest of the liberal media missed pointing out that  a “reputable” union has established the same requirements to protect the integrity of their voting process?

Update:  One of Rasmussen’s latest surveys shows  75% Support Showing Photo ID At The Polls

Update 2:  Ed’s got a post up on the main page that’s got some good comments and arguments.

A reminder that Hot Air can be linked to your Facebook page so you can stay updated on the daily postings.   http://www.facebook.com/hotaircom

For Pro Football fans, Ed Morrissey does a Sunday NFL Open Thread and I’ve been posting  a College Football Open Thread here in the Greenroom on most Saturdays.

I am not a credentialed journalist, (not even close), but have enjoyed the privilege of posting here in the Greenroom for a few years now, and look forward to your comments and opinions.  Again, welcome one and all.

Rov

p.s. Please come back often and check out the writers here in the Greenroom.  They’re great people and welcome your opinions.

LSU/ALABAMA?  OR LSU/OKLAHOMA STATE?

After a dismal first half in the SEC Championship game, (12 total yards and zero first downs), the LSU Tigers were more like a heard of elephants in full stampede mode, as they dismantled the Georgia Bulldogs 42-10.  Tyrann (Honey Badger) Mathieu was a one-man wrecking crew for LSU along with an overwhelming defense that held the Bulldogs scoreless in the second half, leaving 12-0 LSU the only undefeated FBS team in the nation, and an undisputed No. 1 ranking in the BCS.

The not so surprising outcome leaves college football fans, (and more importantly, the voting Coaches, Pollsters, and BCS computers), with one final dilemma—who’s # 2???

If you listened to Kirk Herbstreit and Brent Musburger, (ABC/ESPN announcers/broadcasters), on who should play in the BCS title game, it’s already decided—Alabama.  The all too cozy relationship with ESPN, (a multi-million dollar contract with the BCS and the SEC), might as well be a Chris Matthews/Keith Olbermann debate over who should be the next President.

The current #2 Alabama Crimson Tide, (11-1) sat out the weekend, not qualifying in the SEC Championship game, finishing second in the SEC-West.  And, for the record, LSU defeated Alabama 9-6 on November 5^th in what the sportscasters billed as “the game of the century”, (where neither team scored at touchdown), yet the Tide loss moved them “suspiciously” by the BCS down only one spot to #3*.

But the 11-1 Oklahoma State Cowboys have a legitimate argument for that #2 spot by winning the Big 12 Conference defeating #10 Oklahoma soundly 44-10.  Both teams have high national offensive rankings, (Oklahoma, #10 and O-State, #2), but last night the Cowboys defense, (ranked 29^th), stifled the Sooners offense forcing five turnovers, (three fumbles and two INTs) keeping Oklahoma out of the end zone until 2:25 in the fourth quarter.

Now, it’s all up to the polling and those pesky BCS computers to decide who should show up in New Orleans on January 9th to face LSU,  Alabama or Oklahoma State?  Neither choice will be popular in certain regions of the country, and you can bet those who’ve been calling for a play-off system will be roaring again with a fever pitch.

(Now if I can just figure out how to insert a poll into the thread ~ check back later)

* After the Alabama loss to LSU, the Harris Poll and the USA Today Coaches Poll (that is part of the formula for the BCS “system”) actually ranked Alabama #4 placing them behind still unbeaten Oklahoma State and Stanford, but those pesky “human computer” folks voted/inputted their own formula:

3 Alabama .8836 previous #2, current Harris #4 2505 .8713 current USA Today #4 1286 .8719  Average computer ranking #3   4+6 +4+ 3+ 3+ 3 = 23 ¸6 = 3.83 = 3 ????

(I guess computers aren’t allowed to round up—but the difference between placing the Tide at #3 or #4 at the time would have placed Bama in the predicament of having to move up two spots instead of one to reach the coveted Big Game)

Update: BCS picks Alabama for an all SEC Championship Game:

NEW YORK (AP) — Play it again, LSU and Alabama.

The Crimson Tide edged out Oklahoma State in the final round of voting Sunday  and will play the top-ranked Tigers in the BCS national championship game on  Jan. 9 in New Orleans.

Undefeated LSU is the only team to beat Alabama this season, and the head BCS  official sees a do-over as a perfectly good title game.

“Absolutely, if they’re 1 and 2, and they are in all the polls released  today,” executive director Bill Hancock said.

Why do I feel like the health care bill just got passed again…..by one vote?

(I’ve been working on a separate post all week to argue against an LSU/BAMA REMATCH, but I might just work in the potent parts into this thread so everyone can pile on.  In the meantime, read  Mark Bradley’s “SEC Title Game Moot” in the AJC to get the anti-bama juices flowing.)

SI Top 25 Scorboard Link          ESPN Scoreboard Link

Congrats to Southern Mississippi Golden Eagles—Winners of the CONFERENCE USA CHAMPIONSHIP GAME 49-28 over previously unbeaten Houston Cougars.

Congrats to the still undefeated No. 1 ranked LSU Tigers—Winners of the SEC CHAMPIONSHIP GAME over the Georgia Bulldogs 42-10.

Congrats to the Oregon Ducks—First PAC-12 CHAPIONSHIP Winners over the UCLA Bruins 49-31.

Update:  Two* Championship games in progress.  In the ACC Clemson’s shading Tech 10-7 late in the second quarter.  In the Big Ten Wiconsin and Michigan State are tearing it up in the first half 21-14 Badgers.  In the “other Championship Possibilites” game Oklahoma State pushed out early to a 10-0 lead with eight minutes left in the half. Correction; make that 17-0, as the Cowboys are knockin’ on LSU’s doors…..

I’ll try to provide some updates later in the day, (if the new water heater install cooperates)

Hope everyone’s got their fill of Turkey and trimmings……….

It’s been quite a few years that College Football had such a weekend of upsets, games going down to the last play, or dreams crushed in the jaws of victory.  Dare I say, it was a “play-off atmosphere”?

It all started on Friday night when Iowa State defeated #2 Oklahoma State in double overtime 37-31.  With the Cowboys coming into this game as 27 point favorites, and QB Brandon Weeden owning the air, 42/58 476 yards, the table was supposed to be set for a final game against their rival Sooners, and on to a National Championship game against the now only undefeated contender* (LSU Tigers).  With a commanding 24-7 lead three minutes into the third quarter, many thought this game would be the typical Cowboy’s second half run-away, as so many other games unfolded this season.  But the Iowa State Cyclones, (who had never beaten a top five team), would have none of that storyline. With an OS missed 37 yard field goal try, (over the top of the left upright), with 1:17 left in regulation, the Cowboy’s “fleeting moment” was gone, as the Cyclones pulled out the victory in double-overtime, opening up the floodgates of one-loss teams in search of a shot at the big game.

And boy, did the floodgates open.  With Oklahoma State’s loss, nine top ten teams, (ten if you count still undefeated Houston), became a consideration for that illusive #2 spot in the BCS National Championship as Saturday began.

Super Saturday or Meltdown Saturday

With #1 (11-0) LSU, taking care of business dismantling Ole Miss 52-3, it was just a matter of which team would rise to the occasion.  No one had a clue that so many teams on one Saturday would fail at achieving that goal.  And then, all hell broke loose.  I’ll use some of  Gene Wojciechowski’s descriptions of what can happen on one given Saturday:

Think about it:

• Oklahoma State committed five turnovers and missed what could have been a game-winning 37-yard field goal with 1:17 left in regulation against Iowa State. The Cyclones won in double-OT.

• Oregon committed three turnovers and missed a — wait for it — 37-yard game-tying field goal as time expired.

• Oklahoma committed three turnovers and called a timeout with 46 seconds remaining when it appeared Baylor was content to let the clock run out and head to overtime.

Instead, Griffin scrambled for 22 yards and a first down on the next play. Three plays after that, he threw the game-winning touchdown pass.

• Clemson committed four turnovers in its loss.

This season has officially lost its mind, which isn’t such a bad thing. We thought we had clear-cut national title matchup (unbeaten LSU against unbeaten Oklahoma State). Now we have LSU and BCS bedlam.

Stewart Mandel at SI even adds to the bedlam:

Welcome to the SEC West Invitational.

That’s what the top three will be when the new standings are released Sunday night: Divisional foes LSU (11-0), Alabama (10-1) and Arkansas (10-1), in that order. The Tigers beat the Tide. The Tide clobbered the Razorbacks. The Razorbacks visit the Tigers on Friday…….

Not since the end of the 1971 season, when the Big 8′s Nebraska, Oklahoma and Colorado finished 1-2-3, has one conference occupied the top three spots like the SEC likely will come Sunday night. One division of one conference? Unprecedented.

Right now it’s hard to see past those three in calculating BCS scenarios. If LSU beats both Arkansas and Georgia in the SEC title game, it will almost certainly rematch Alabama come January (assuming the Tide defeat rival Auburn on Saturday). However, if the Razorbacks beat the Tigers, the SEC’s three-way tiebreaker will likely send Alabama (which beat Arkansas 38-14 on Sept. 24) to Atlanta. If the Tide beat Georgia, they will presumably head to New Orleans, and there will be much sentiment to keep the thus-far dominant Tigers in the top two.

Note that Alabama doesn’t have a particularly overwhelming resume. As of today they’ve defeated just three teams — 9-2 Penn State, 10-1 Arkansas and 6-5 Florida — with winning records. LSU, by comparison, has six such victories. But the Tide are sitting pretty because they started No. 2 in the polls, they took the top-ranked Tigers to overtime in the Game of the Century … and because there aren’t a lot of other options.

Confused yet?  In the words one of our favorite conservative ladies, “You betcha”!

One thing’s for certain, the next two weeks of College Football will be fill with “what ifs”, “how comes”, and “what nows”. And if yesterday didn’t hook you into this world of College Football Madness, it’s a lost cause.  So many dreams were shattered as one team snatched victory from the jaws of defeat—others were re-ignited by the slaying of titans who might have claimed their right to a Championship.  The clamor of play-offs will begin anew as the fallen will think of how close victory was in their grasp…….if Only For a Fleeting Moment.

(*only undefeated contender:  For the record, the Houston Cougars are still the only other undefeated team in the BCS rankings.)

Update:  BCS Rankings Released:    As predicted, LSU, BAMA, ARKANSAS 1,2,3………….ALL SEC TOP THREE.  OKLAHOMA ST., VIRGINIA TECH, STANFORD FOLLOW…….

Featured Games this Week:  Alabama/Georgia Southern and USC/Oregon

Of course the “big news” is the upset of Oklahoma State at the hands of Iowa State last night.

Will post some updates later………..

And, on a more somber note, condolences and prayers go out to the friends and families of the Oklahoma State Basketball coaches that perished in the plane crash just two days ago.

George Schroeder at SI has the story.

Update: For some of you that don’t have the capability of watching some games, there’s some free ESPN live games available online at this link.

(CNSNews.com) – House Republicans are set to vote later this week on a balanced budget amendment (BBA) that would not cap federal spending as a percentage of GDP or require a supermajority to raise taxes.

Majority Leader Eric Cantor (R-Va.) said the vote would probably take place this Friday.

Cantor said that this version of a BBA, H.J. Res 2 — rather than one that would cap federal spending, H.J. Res 1 – was the version “overwhelmingly” favored by House Republicans.

Metaphors anyone?  This “legislation” is akin to (fill in the blanks).  And while your at it, can some one explain what Cantor means “if he had his druthers”?:

Cantor said he would have personally liked to see the BBA with a spending cap and supermajority on taxes brought to the floor for a vote, but said he will support the weaker version because he thinks it is better than having no balanced budget requirement at all.

“Personally, if I had my druthers, I would like to see us vote on a stronger BBA,” he said. “So I hope that this passes. And I will be voting for it because I do think ultimately the biggest check we can put on government’s unbridled spending is a forced balanced budget amendment like most states have.”

Both the House and the Senate are required to have a vote on a balanced budget amendment before the end of the year due to a concession that Cantor and House Speaker John Boehner (R-Ohio) won during the negotiations over raising the debt ceiling in August.

Negotiations during the debt ceiling debate garnered an agreement that both the House and Senate would be required to bring a BBA to their respective floors for a vote.  Getting Harry Reid to bring any House legislation to a vote on the Senate floor has been virtually impossible.

So, what have Boehner and Cantor done with this gem of an obligation?

Do they really think that passing a Balanced Budget Amendment that has no teeth will some how satisfy a voting public’s hunger for restraining the Federal Government’s reckless spending policies?  Four years of Reid, Pelosi and Obama’s spending has put this nation on a direct path to insolvency.  The Super Committee is working on a watered down piece of legislation that can pass muster in both chambers, so “our legislators” can go home for the Holidays and say “this is the best we can do”.  It’s no wonder that Congress’s approval rating is at an all time low.  Because if this is the best they can do, then our Congress had better revisit what really happened in 2010.

And Boehner and Cantor should re-think even bringing this vote to the House floor.  They’re fooling no one but themselves.

Since this is an open thread, everyone’s welcome to post about the events that has rocked Penn State, (just try to keep it classy), and the game between #12 Penn St and #19 Nebraska at noon, (EDST-9am Pacific), will be interesting to say the least.

As a West Coast native, and a longtime Pac 10/12 fan, I’ll pose this question: Does a one loss Alabama deserve to be ranked ahead of an undefeated Stanford?  Is the SEC any more competitive than the Pac 12 this year?  Or, more fairly, has Bama’s strength of schedule been any more rigorous as the Cardinal?  Of course, this will all be moot if Oregon pulls out a mild upset.

Current BCS Rankings, (1-12):

1LSU 9-0 2 Oklahoma State 9-0 3 Alabama 8-1 4 Stanford 9-0 5 Boise State 8-0 6 Oklahoma 8-1 7 Oregon 8-1 8 Arkansas 8-1 9 Clemson 8-1 10 Virginia Tech 8-1 11 Houston 9-0 12 Penn State 8-1

Update: In case you missed the post by Allahpundit yesterday, here’s the link.  It’s a great read with plenty of comments.  ESPN is reporting that Ohio State is facing more infractions/penalties from the NCAA.  Interesting title to the story: “Ohio State now faces ‘failure to monitor’“.  This should leave us all wondering how the NCAA will react to PSU’s “failure to monitor”, or if they’ll figure losing an icon like Paterno, (and letting the criminal justice system run its course), is enough punishment to the program.

Bryant-Denny Stadium

LIVE STREAM LINK

The long awaited game is finally here: LSU takes on Alabama in Bryant-Denny Stadium, Tuscaloosa this Saturday evening.  Game time is 8:00 pm (EST) 5:00 pm on the West Coast on CBS.

Unfortunately, (or fortunately, if your team’s on the outside), one of these teams will likely be dropping  out of the BCS National Championship game.  The team that looses will probably drop down in the BCS rankings to the number six or seven spot, depending on the outcomes of other top ten teams.

For you betting fans the Crimson Tide is favored to win, -4 and a half.

Other important Saturday games include #14 Kansas St. at #3 Oklahoma St. and another SEC powerhouse game pitting #9 South Carolina @ #7 Arkansas.  It would be real shockers if #’s 4, 5, & 6 Stanford, Boise St. or Oklahoma lost this weekend.

I’ll be doing some updates as the day unfolds—comments welcome.

(p.s. I’d pick a winner for this “big game“, but I seriously have no idea who’s going to win this one.  That said, living on the west coast, there‘s still a chance for Stanford to get into the Championships, but the Cardinals will need some more “Luck“.)

Update:  OK, After further analysis, (and a good night’s sleep), under commenter radjah’s scenario of “a close game”, I’m revising/amending my statement that the loser will drop to six or seven spot.  In a close game, the loser will most likely drop to the #4 spot behind Oklahoma St. and Stanford, (who would move up to #2 & #3 providing they win).  Any final score that indicates one team “handled” the other team convincingly, then the loser could drop to the 5, 6, or 7 spot, again depending on the outcome.

Update: Final score LSU 9 ~ ALABAMA 6

Gem of a defensive game, but opportunities by both teams got away in a sloppy game that was supposed to be billed “the game of the century”.  Ok, I’ll give em’ a B+, (and you all know what that means around here).  Game ball to LSU for pullin’ out a mild upset in hostile country.

Round-up in the morning.

Game time, 8:05 (EST) 5:05 (PST)

What could possibly take the place of last night’s game of the century?  Baseball purest might like to see a pitching duel with some great defensive plays and NO ERRORS, but Fox would be delighted to have a game just like last nights thriller.  Allahpundit did a fine recap on the game and asked “was it the one of the best games—ever”?  Well, no it wasn’t.  The best game was game #5 last year when the Giants won the World Series for the first time since moving out to the west coast.  Giant’s fans will tell you blowing the Phillys out of the water and then disposing of the Rangers (with superior pitching) ended a life-time of frustration and torture.  Yes, yes, but that was last year you say.  Giants fans will tell you they’re still celebrating.

Do we really need another “Buckner” or the latest goat Nelson Cruz (according to some sportswriters and spoiled fans).  Tom Verducci at SI wrote a full column on Cruz’s “misplay” of the ball that tied the game in the ninth, but I think it is unfair to put the full blame on one man.  It just doesn’t work that way in a team sport.

Updates and comments welcome……….

Update: AP’s got an open thread up on the main page.  Slide on up there and enjoy the game.

Rangers lead Series 3-2

Starting Pitching:  Rangers-Colby Lewis  ~   Cards-Jaime Garcia

Updates and Comments Welcome…………

Update: Cardinals come back from the brink of elimination—Hell Freese’s Over!

Yet here the Cardinals sit, victors in one of the most dramatic championship-series games in the sport’s two-century history, having become the first team to score in the eighth, ninth and 10th and 11th innings of a World Series contest — twice off the bat of the local hero, Freese — that it would go on to win 10-9 and force a do-or-die Game 7 on Friday night.  link

ST. LOUIS — With ugly weather looming over Busch Stadium, baseball officials decided to postpone Wednesday’s Game 6 of the World Series.

The game between the St. Louis Cardinals and Texas Rangers has been rescheduled for 8:05 p.m. ET Thursday.

Game 7, if necessary, has been scheduled for 8:05 p.m. ET Friday.

The Rangers lead the series 3-2.

“Given the desire to play a game of this magnitude without interruption, and an outlook with better conditions over the next two nights, Major League Baseball, along with the Cardinals and the Rangers, determined that making the decision early would be the most prudent course of action to allow fans enough time to plan accordingly,” the league announced in a statement Wednesday afternoon.  link

Not sure who this helps.  The Texas Rangers were on a roll.  I’d expect some pitching arms will get some much needed rest, and this next game should be a “kitchen sink”, especially for the Cardinals who have to win……or it’s over.

Bottom of the 6th~~~score tied 2-2

Congrats to the Rangers.  Final score 4-2  Texas now leads series 3-2, and go back to St. Louis with a shot at their first World Series.

I would guess by now everyone has discovered that Albert Pujols has inserted himself into the World Series record books with his performance last night.  Tom Verducci at Sports Illustrated said it very well:

“The score of Game 3 will be lost to history, the unseemliness of a 16-7 pounding St. Louis gave Texas better off forgotten anyway. What remains forever is what happened when the best player of his generation found the very best of himself on the biggest of all stages. It was, quite simply, the greatest night by one player in the history of the 620 World Series games ever played.

It wasn’t enough that Pujols joined Babe Ruth (1926 and 1928) and Reggie Jackson (1977) as the only players to hit three home runs in a World Series game. He also tied World Series records for runs batted in (six, by Bobby Richardson and Hideki Matsiui) and hits (five by Paul Molitor, with Pujols, incredibly, getting five hits off five different pitchers in a six-inning span). The hits — two singles and three homers — added up to 14 total bases, two more than the previous record shared by Ruth and Jackson. No one ever had a night this big.”

I’m certain the Texas Rangers and their fans hope they don’t see any thing close to a Pujols repeat performance tonight.  In fact, it’s pretty critical that the Rangers don’t go down 3-1 against a team that can score 16 runs—in a single World Series game.

Derek Holland, (16-5~3.95 era) starts for Texas tonight, while Edwin Jackson, (12-9~3.79 era) is on the mound for St. Louis

Comments and updates welcome…………

This series shifts to Arlington Texas with the Rangers feeling pretty good about getting home with come from behind win Thursday night in St. Louis.  Matt Harrison, (14-9), gets the call for the Rangers, while the Cards start Kyle Lohse, (14-8) ~ both with 3.39 era’s for the season.

Sixteen of the last eighteen teams that won game three, (after a 1-1 tie), went on to win the World Series.  Neither of the two “superstars” Josh Hamilton or Albert Pujols have a hit in the series, but I think this will change.

With all the great college games today and tonight, its a wonder any one remembers we’ve got a World Series to decide.  Shoot, if you’ve got a college football comment to add to the thread~have at it.

What a performance by Albert Pujols!  Final score: Cards 16, Rangers 7  (Cards lead series 2-1)

My cousin isn’t going to like this, but if the Rangers don’t win this game, it might be a short series.  Reportedly, the weather is a bit milder than last night, although I doubt it made any difference in the outcome last night.  1-2-3 first inning for the Cards.

Updates and comments welcome………..

The broadcast schedule for the 107th World Series has officially been set.

First pitch in all the games between the American League champion Texas Rangers and the National League champion St. Louis Cardinals will be at 8:05 p.m. ET on FOX. Game 1 of the World Series is on Wednesday.

Air time for each game will be at 7:30 p.m. ET, with Game 4 on Sunday as the one exception. Its air time will begin at 7:45 p.m.

FOX Sports will provide national coverage of the World Series, while ESPN Radio will have complete coverage of all World Series games.

Additional live coverage will also be on MLB.com, XM Radio and MLB International.

What does .175, .216, and .190 mean to baseball fans?  Those were the batting averages of the teams that the Giants disposed of on the way to their first World Series since 1954.

Atlanta, (.175) never had a lead in this series until game # 5, which they lost.

Then the Giants blew through the “other best team in baseball” by sending the Phillys home scratching their heads, and their fans wondering where all that powerful hitting went. (Phillys batted .216 in the series)

Likewise, Texas never had a chance in the WS. The Rangers had an overall batting average of .190 in the series and did not score for more than 18 consecutive innings before a lone home run in the seventh inning of their final game.

Baseball fans, (even Giant’s haters), witnessed some of the greatest pitching in playoff  and World Series history.

Fast forward to 2011.

Both the Cardinals and the Rangers have good pitching heading into this series—should be a good one.

Food for thought: Gene Wojciechowski at ESPN.com thinks “The World Series: It’s broken. Fix it!”

“And while we’re at it, let’s shrink the league championship series and World Series from best-of-seven series to best-of-five.

And nothing against LaRussa, the master of situational pitching changes, but let’s ixnay the roster rule that lets teams put 11, even 12 pitchers on their postseason 25-man roster. Instead, make it 10, tops.

This way, you speed up the middle to late innings of a game. Plus, you reward a team for having quality relievers who can get right- and left-handed hitters out. And if they can’t, then you have the added possibility of a late-inning rally and comeback. Nothing wrong with that.

While we’re at it, why not flip-flop the DH rule? From now on, use the DH in the National League ballpark and no DH in the American League park. The home fans would get to see a different style of baseball.”

Personally, I think Wojo’s full of beans…….