The sports world is full of different sports. Many of them are not that popular in the USA. A good example would be cricket. This is a very popular sport in other countries, but not one of the typical American sports you first think of in the United States. If you live in the U.S. and wanted to start up your own game of cricket, you would have trouble finding the right supplies and equipment. Luckily there are cricket retailers online, who will supply cricket merchandise to the States, Canada, and even Australia; where the sport is much more popular. Anyone can get their own game of cricket going, once they have the proper sports equipment in place to start.

The first thing I would probably look at, is to buy a cricket bat online. I never knew there were so many different bats to choose from in the sport of cricket. Each bat has its own personality. I’m sure the experienced cricket players would have their own personal bat to use each time. They may just have a certain brand of cricket bat they like more than other companies producing bats for cricket.

If there is one thing I have always loved about sports, it is the sharp-looking shoes you can get for each different sport. I have always been a big fan of the high tops or American basketball shoes. I don’t find many low-cut shoes, which I think are stylish. Until I seen the different brands of footwear you can get for cricket. Shoes in cricket have a great look to them. Most will offer some spikes or cleats on the bottom of them, so cricket players can get the proper footing from them. I was just now looking at a web page for a variety of cricket shoes and saw several pairs I would like to own. It probably wouldn’t be practical to wear these shoes with spikes on them for everyday use. If you were playing American baseball or a good game of cricket, then these cricket shoes would be super for getting traction on the ground.

These red cricket shoes I found at the Cricket Store Online. Would you like a pair of sports shoes like this? Well as nice as these shoes look, they are very well-priced. If we aren’t spending a $100 or more on shoes, we don’t think we are getting a good pair. Because famous athletes put their names on shoes and this causes the price to sky-rocket. The shoes I looked at today, were all well below the one hundred dollar mark. If you want to get your own game of cricket going, the Cricket Store Online is a good place to start. Cricket fans from the USA, Canada, and Australia can all order these cricket products from the comfort of their home, by going to the computer and selecting all the things they will need.

You know she has been with you through a lot. She was there to feel sorry for you when you was sick. She laughed when you did and cried harder when just a few tears came from your eyes. No matter what you do, please don’t forget the next upcoming holiday. You know the one I am talking about. The one you will whip out the credit card and buy some Valentines Day Flowers for the love in your life. She didn’t forget about you, so please don’t forget about her. Yes, this will be the love month. A time for couples to reflect and show their love for one another. I’m glad to have found love again in my life. This year’s Valentines Day celebration will actually mean something to me.

For about the last dozen years or so, I had no reason to celebrate this day. In fact, I would even get depressed, just seeing everyone else having someone but me. What was wrong with me? What had I done? Had I been too selfish and only cared about myself? What was the problem with me and women? Why did all of my friends have a wife or girlfriend and I had nothing? I mean zilch! Nothing!

Now its all different. The sun shines brighter. The nights are more romantic. I hear the birds and its not a disturbance now. It’s the signs and sounds of love and its flowing through every vein in my body. I have a new woman to share my life with. This wonderful lady comes with a bonus too. She brings a beautiful, smart, and intelligent daughter into my life. It wasn’t too long ago, I couldn’t get any females into my life. Now I have two and I’m not looking back at yesterday. No regrets to nothing. If I regretted anything from the past, it may have not led to the love I have now in my life. This love is so strong, I am positive it will be my last. Now I have a life again. I am officially a man in this world and I have the loving support of a wife-to-be and a daughter to prove it. Please guys, show that you care and don’t take your little lady for granted this Valentines Day!

In a night where we could celebrate a sport, a system, and the best two teams in college football, it wasn’t going to happen. The 2011 BCS Title Game in Arizona went from bad to worse and Brent Musburger and Kirk Herbsteet from ESPN was the reason why. It is well known both of these men don’t like the football in the South and they made it clear which fans they were going to be talking to, in Monday Night’s Tostitos Fiesta Bowl between the Ducks from Oregon and the Tigers from Auburn, Alabama.

What Opinions and Comments Led Up to the Big Game Between the Pac 10 and SEC Championship Battle

For the past month, we have heard from every college football expert ESPN could throw out. And each time we heard about the numerous dangers this Oregon Ducks team could present for the little southern Alabama team. Oregon’s ability to run fast paced offensive plays and rotate guys in and out so efficient, was going to cause big problems to those big front end guys, who are not extremely athletic, but just big in size. These guys having weight problems will test their shape and endurance tests, this SEC defensive team is going to be exposed to on a national stage in January. Really Auburn just has 1 defensive player who can create the most problems, but Oregon is going to see this guy named Nick Fairley who has a nose for the football on their tapes leading up to the big game and no way will he be allowed to roam free in the Oregon backfield.

 

Oregon has over a month to prepare for this Auburn team. We can expect to see a lot of creative plays on the offensive side of the ball for this Pac 10 team who stood out all season long. There is a good reason why this is the nation’s top offensive team in the nation. Not sure if Auburn can fully prepare to all of the twists and turns the Ducks will be using from their playbook; when they go on the offensive attack January 10th in Glendale, Arizona.

Expect Auburn to start with a a heavy dose of junior QB Cam Newton and end the game with a heavier dose from the 2010 Heisman Trophy Winner and the top player in the SEC this past season. A lot of things Auburn can do, to work off of Cam’s running success on offense. He also has the unique ability to beat you with the pass too, because he completes an extremely high percentage of his passes to wide open  receivers, who get lost in the folds sometime.

Overall this next month favors the Ducks much more than it does the Tigers. I believe the Auburn Tigers would prefer and just go out and play this final game immediately. The Auburn coaching staff will have their work cut out for them, as they try to find drills and unique schemes to entertain these guys over the coming days and weeks, until we finally get things underway in early January.

Not only did I hear everything about how the Ducks were going to do everything right and how the Auburn Tigers would struggle in every facet of the game, but  I continued to hear about the nation’s top offensive team and their star running back, who really loves the pressures and excitement of a big football game. LaMichael James was going to be a force to wrecking with and would like have the opportunity to shine a lot more brighter; than the QB Cam Newton would for Auburn. James ability to run the ball or catch short passes out of the backfield, is what makes him so dangerous. If LaMicheal James scores a hat trick against the Tigersin the Fiesta Bowl, I will have to go withthe Ducks winning this game. Meaning if the Ducks running back could find a way into the endzone 3 different times, this would be 21 points andtherewould  probably be 1 or 2 other guys who would find a path to the endzone too.

***Now the Game Officially Arrives and the Calendar Says January 10th 2011***

The game is being televised on ESPN for a 8:30 EST start time for us back in Georgia. I had some work to do online, so I turned the TV on early, so I could listen to some of the pregame information; which was being discussed with the college football panel from the ESPN Crew. You know, the World Wide Leaders in Sports and Home to the 2042 Olympics in Southern California.

Nothing new in the pregame talks and I did start to hear a few people picking the Oregon team to win. Which I thought was hilarious, because there was not even a contest for which team would win this college football championship. I thought the only thing open for discussion was the final score and could the Oregon Ducks at least make their score look respectable, without having a few late points from a 4th quarter group of guys, who is playing due to the lopsided score.

***Game Time*** Ok… the moment has arrived. We will now have the flipping of the coin to see which team can win the first battle on the field. The coin toss would go in Oregon’s favor and they won it! Now they had a decision to make and there was two choices. They could take the ball first and have Auburn kick off to them, but when the 3rd quarter begins, the Tigers would get the first possession. Or the Ducks could decide to bring out their Pac 10 kicker and allow Auburn to have first crack at putting points on the scoreboard, but would have that luxury after halftime of them getting the first possession of the 2nd half of the Fiesta Bowl. In a bit of a surprise, the Oregon Ducks stood up and said they would take the first crack on offense. So this undersized team from the Pac 10, did make the first bold move and stepping up to say “we want the ball first!” and I liked that decision and liked it even more, when I knew my Auburn Tigers from the SEC and the team I am rooting for to win, will be guaranteed first crack at points in the 3rd quarter.

Game-Time = Oregon Butt Whipping Time

So now things are in the hands of Herbie and Brent from ESPN. It didn’t take long for the little things to start popping up. After each team had an offensive possession in the first quarter, I could see a slight hint of favoritism going toward the men with the loud and brightly colored socks. The Ducks could do a few things right in that opening quarter and it seemed more excitement came from our broadcasters mouths, as Oregon did seemed to need the most help. Keep in mind, if you didn’t watch this game live on TV, the fans are seeing a complete mismatch on the field in terms of size, physically strength, and speed. Auburn has a clear-cut advantage and they look much like an NFL team would on a Sunday afternoon; while the odd uniform colors and ridiculous mismatching styles on the West Coast Team is blinding to say the least and they are not quite like that NFL afternoon game on a Sunday. These guys are definitely Friday Night Lights material and this is sooooooo high school! I’m not jus saying high school because of their poor taste in uniform designs and colors, but I am saying high school, because you see a bunch of skinny white kids that look 6 feet tall and 180 pounds of weight on their small frames. This is truly a David and Goliath Matchup, as I sit ans watch both teams fail to score in the opening quarter from Glendale, Arizona for this year’s 2011 BCS Bowl Game which is presented by the folks from Tostitos and this year’s Tostitos Fiesta Bowl will the game that determines a college football champion in the division I schools.

2nd Quarter Beings….

Now theguys in the bootharenolonger talking to bothfans of these two college teams. They are not trying to be fair, balanced, or impartial to what they are seeing on the field. It gets obvious as Oregon scores the first points of the game with a short field goal from their place kicker. A lot of excitement is now in the ESPN booth, as Kirk Herbstreet and Brent MusburgerCan Finally breathe a sigh of relief. They really had fears that Auburn might just run away with this thing at any time andnow they feel like they have a Pac10 team witha chance to keep pace with a SEC school. It didn’t take long for Cam Newton andcompany to respond to the high school team’s field goal. Mr Newton from College Park, Georgia would  throw a long distance strike to Kodi Burn of Auburn for the game’s first touchdown. It only took the SEC team about 2 minutes actual game clock time, to take the lead away from Oregon.

Not a lot of excitement from our ESPN Booth Team of Musburger and Herbstreet, since Auburn did such a nice job in a fast response. If you thought that was fast, the Ducks from Oregon are getting set to match Auburn and take the lead back in even a faster response time. A long 81 yard pass down the field from their opponents endzone is a great way to start this drive. I would say about 1 minute of actual game time gets used up, when we  finalysee the running back LaMichaelJames make his first impact on the game. He doesn’t do it with his legs though and it was actually a catch and then a 8 yard score. Now Oregon lines up to kick the extra point and with a blink of an eye, they are carrying the ball over the endzone for a designed two point conversion trick play. This would not be the only trick play of the day from Oregon, but the few trick plays was really all they would have for most of the night in Arizona under the cool January skies in Glendale.

Oh the Pac 10 spirit has woke up now! The voice of Kirk Herbstreet is gaining in volume and his tone had changed dramatically from the 1st quarter of this game he was calling over the ESPN airwaves. We are now coming up to one of the funniest parts to the whole night and one that I still remember very clearly. I remembered this comment so well, I glanced down at the time on the game clock, to see how much time we had left in the half. The funny statement of the night, would come from Kirk Herbstreet, as the Oregon Ducks has finally got a touchdown on the board and thanks to a nifty trick play, for a 2 point conversion, the Mighty Ducks are representing the Pac10, as they have a four point lead 11 to 7! And with about 9 minutes left to go in the 2nd quarter, Kirk Herbstreet says something along these lines “well I don’t know which team is going to win this game. You know in years past the SEC has had a clear speed advantage, but that isn’t true this year and anyone of these teams could win this game“….END OF QUOTE or me paraphrashing the quote from Herbie.

I found this funny, because now this only confirms what I was beginning to think and these two guys in the ESPN Booth and on a National Stage has turned away from the Auburn side of things and these guys are only focusing on a Oregon win now. Even though the massive size difference still exists on the field andnotsurewhat he meant about speed, because since he has said that comment, the guys from Southern Alabama are really flying around right now. You could tell they didn’t like to be down and finally some good news comes in from Auburn, but not received in the Espn booth that way.

About 3 minutes remain in the 1st half of play, when the Oregon Ducks are forced to move the ball from their own 1 yard line. After a hand off to their star tailback and one of the most talented running backs in the country, he can’t even get back to the line of scrimmage, as once again this pro NFL-looking team just beats down the small gang of high school boys, who are severely out-matched in this championship football game. However, the size and physical presence may be a clear indicator out there, but the scoreboard only has a 2 point separation. OH WAIT! Make that a 5 point separation, because after the Auburn Tigers safety, which pulled them to within 2 points, they would get the ball back and drive it down the field for a SEC  Touchdown. Cam Newton throws a long pass again to a wide open receiver for the TigerswasMr. Blake with the catch from Mr. Newton from College Park, just below the city of Atlanta in Georgia. Cam Newtwonisa Georgia kid with Georgia roots, but for today, he is sporting the Auburn Tigers uniform colors  and the booth guys aren’t saying much as we prepare for the half in the last college football game of the year.

*H*A*L*F*T*I*M*E*

START OF THE 3RD QUARTER IN ARIZONA’S FIESTA BOWL CELEBRATION…..

Kirk Herbstreet a little less optimistic now andheisnow saying both teams are known for having strong 2nd halves, so we shuld see a wild half of action. Thanks to Oregon’s greed at the start of the game and their desires to take the ball first, the Tigers will get a chance to move their offense onto the field first and see if they can take this game  and put it out of the reach of this very small team we are still seeing on the football field. The Tigers have had a ton of big hits andtheselittleguys just fly through the air so easily, once they come into contact with some of this Auburn muscle.

Brent Musburger makes a 3rd quarter error on the microphone and here is more proof, that Herbstreet and Musburger are strongly rooting ffor a Oregon Ducks and a Pac10 win! The boo boo made by Brent in the 3rd quarter is when Oregon finally stops the Tigers and force them into a field goal attempt. Brent Musburger said the Oregon Ducks do it again and they force Auburn into another field goal situation. For those of you who have been keeping score at home and you are actually watching this gamewith an open mind and not a closed one like the Southern Haters we have in this freaking ESPN Booth now with Kirk “I ONLY LOVE USC FOOBALL” Herbstreet and  Brent “I CAN TAKE A MIDWEST OR A WEST TEAM, JUST HATE ALL SEC TEAMS” Musburger…then you would probably know at this point in the game, the Oregon Ducks have never held the Auburn Tigers to a FG or FG attempt. For some reason, the vision of Herbstreet and Musburger are really going now, because all Auburn has did for  points in this game was score touchdowns. The defensive line managed to tackle the over rated LaMichael James for a safety in the endzone, but as for the Tigers offense, they have only put up touchdowns. Now in the 3rd quarter and with a 5 point lead, they do take their first 3 points of the contest and it is in the form of a FG. The comment made by Brent Musburger is incorrect and Oregon’s defense has not stopped or held Auburn to just another Field Goal, like Mr. Musburger would like for you to believe. AndnowIam done with the 3rd quarter and Auburn gets 3 more points, to build their lead up to 8 and Oregon does nothing to the scoreboard in the 3rd frame of action from the Fiesta Bowl in Arizona.

That was not the only speaking error that Brent Musburger had. Let’s go to another exciting time for the  Ducks and their college football fans. A deep pass is completed and for a brief moment it appears the Oregon Duck receiver will run all the way to the endzone and Musburger prematurely says “tochdown for Oregon” or he might have said “Oregon’s got a touchdown”. He was so quick to say those words, but once again, we forget  abut the physical dominance Auburn is having on this game and the amount of speeed they have over the Oregon Ducks. The wide receiver got kknckeddown by a fast guy in the Tigers secondary, but hope is restored in the ESPN booth. The Ducks have marched down the field and now have the ball 1st and goal on the 3 yard line! What could go wrong?

You have the number 1 offense in college football. You have a very talented RB by the name of LaMichael James. You also know that time is getting late in the game, so you make up your mind already, that this is going to be 4 play territory. There really isn’t a need to pass the ball from this place on the field. Afterall, you just need 3 yards for the score and you have 4 plays to do in. Average a yard per play and you can can score on this drive, right? Well this is wrong and believe it or not, the premature yelling of Brent Musburger, saying “Oregon has a touchdown“, when they didn’t, only would look worse, when the Nation’s Number 1 Offense could not score the ball on 4 running plays from the 3 yard line.

The Auburn Defense really stood up strong and it was amazing  to see them withstand this test from the Nation’s Top Offensive Team. The part that was strange, was the lack of words to describe what Auburn had just done to a really good team on the offensive side of the ball. Once Kirk Herbstreet and Brent Musburger both failed to say anything positive about the impressive show of Auburn’s strong defensive line, it really put a sick taste of disgust in your mouth. To know these two well-paid  TV announcers couldn’t even say the first nice thing about the powerful Auburn defense that just slammed the door to your dreams of seeing a Pac 10 Team beating a SEC Opponent.

The first hand-off Auburn would blow up and they took a loss. A foolish looking 2nd play would only make this team look a lttle bit more dazed and confused. Finally on 3rd and goal they manage to get positive yardage and drove the ball down to the 1 yard line. It was 4th and goal and Oregon had to put this ball in the endzone, so they could worry about that 2 point conversion now, instead of later on. However, the interior guys from Auburn was a brick wall and Oregon barely managed to get back to the line of scrimmage. Nick Fairley is going to be a NFL star on Sundays. He’s better than the Nebraska guy, who went like 2nd in the NFL Draft to the Detroit Lioons. He’s a stud up there in Detroit and Fairley will do the same in Atlanta, Georgia. I can’t imagine the Atlanta Falcons letting him get away. They love taking defensive linemen in the drafts. Must do whatever it takes to get Nick Fairley. The guy plays harder than the boy from Detroit and is more relentless. He is also better than the veteran D-Lineman the Falcons already have in John Abraham. The pass rushing abilities of Kory Biermann are impressive and him and John Abraham make a nice tandem, but even withboth guys put together, you would not have 1 Nick Fairley. The Nick Fairley Show is for real and is coming to an NFL TEAM near you. I would try to move Roddy White, 2 future number 1′s and  3 out of the next five 2nd round picks for the draft rights to Mister Nick Fairley of Auburn. He’s the most outstanding DE or DT I have seen in football ever! The kid is a one of a kind talent and no offensive linemen will contain  his assaults on NFL quarterbacks.

Listen up Carolina Panthers. Give me your draft pick and I will  let you have the Falcons 1st round pickin 2011 and 2012. I will let you have 3 out the next five years worth of 2nd round picks. You get to decide which years you want to use the 2nd round picks. As a special bonus, I willl give you a number 1 wide receiver and you can have Roddy White. I will also give up a DL we drafted just a couple of years ago and let you have the services of Jamal Anderson.

Carolina Panthers Receive: (Roddy White, Jamal Anderson, and  5 playersinthefirst 2 rounds) Two 1st Rounders and three 2ndrounders. I will award these current and future 7 play6ers to the Carolina Panthers.

Ok, back to the game. The guys from ESPN were really depressed and not much excitement as the Auburn Tigers began to run time down on the big clock; which still had a good 7 or 8 minutes left in the 4th quarter. This was a poor coaching decision by Gene  Chizik to start working on the clock, with too much time left on it and it was just a one possession game. Auburn should have kept attacking and looked for a way to take control, instead of a way to sneak out a win.

The move would come back to haunt the coach, as even Brent and Herbie got excited again, once they saw their Pac 10 team back in the endzone and down by only 2 points. The little team from Oregon would complete the comeback effort; as they Found awide open receiver for the two point conversion. The Ducks could not even score 1 point in the 3rd quarter and has suddenly found  a way to tie things up with an 8 point explosion. No Herbstreet and Musburger was back in the ESPN BOTTH and were filled with life. Truly a disrespectful service to the SEC Fans and to the fans from Auburn who was tuning-in to see their team playing on the biggest stage possible and couldn’t even get a 2nd half compliment, due to the fact of them rooting for a team to SEC School.

Auburn would take this last drive and would not let Oregon touch the ball again. The ball would eventually wind up on the half yard line with 10 seconds to go in the game. The not-so-bright coach for the Tigers team, first was going to kick a field goal, but it was later decided to run a little more time off of the clock first; thanks to a Oregon timeout. What Coach Chizik should have done, is hand the ball off to his freshmen running back, who is a good inside runner between the tackles or let Cam keep it and try to push his big 6 foot 4 frame over the  end zone line. The Tigers did have 2 timeouts left, but Chizik Chose to throw away his opportunities for a win  self with only 1 way to win in regulation.

So the stage at the end did get set and we saw Cam Newton take a snap from the safety-formation and just took the ball and slightly pounded it back up the middle. He didn’t really try to score a touchdown and I thought this was a critical error on the Auburn Head Football Coach, Mr. Gene Chizik.

The guys who stayed on the field all night for this one, played a tremendous game and Auburn let the game clock go down to 2 seconds, before they used a timeout. After the timeout was called, the place kicker of the field goal kicker made his way to the area, where he would be attempting this 19 yard field goal from the center of the field. The snap was good, the holder did his job, and the kicker kicked it right back up the middle in a very straight line. He should have pushed the ball slightly to his left, for a down the middle field goal, but he still managed to get the job done.   

Your final score in the Tostitos Fiesta Bowl, had the SEC Team beating the PAC 10 Team by a final score of:

AUBURN TIGERS - 22 Points in the BCS Title Game

OREGON DUCKS- 19 Points in the Tostitos Fiesta Bowl

and your 2011 College Champions is…..

Auburn Tigers, a 5th straight title for the SEC~~~

Tweet Three years ago, there was a battle between U.S. Forces in Iraq and hostile insurgents. We know this, by the words of Lieutenant-Colonel Scott Bleichwehl who said “There is no question that coalition forces were clearly engaged in combat operations against a hostile force“. The New York Times published his words, when we would find out later, that 2 reporters working for Reuters were killed in the battle. Most Americans were led to believe, that this was just a part of war and sometimes the innocent get caught-up in the military actions. You can judge for yourself and decide if anyone needed to lose their life on this beautiful July morning in Iraq.

WikiLeaks Obtains the Video of 2 Reuters Employees Being Killed

What did you think?

This is a powerful 17 minute video. Did you think force was necessary to take out these people; which were identified as hostile insurgents? Did the Apache helicopter pilots have to fire their weapons, because of danger on the ground to U.S. Troops? Were the Apache helicopters in danger? Or could they have retreated away from the scene or to a higher altitude; which would have made the “weapons” on the ground ineffective?

It can be easy to play Monday morning quarterback on situations like this. What is important, is that everyone from military officials to the voters in this country, examine videos like this, so we can implement the best military strategy as possible; while not endangering the lives of innocent people. Everyone can clearly see the facts here, just by watching this video. The Apache pilots did have options and in their desires to apply force in this situation, we saw innocent Reuters Reporters being gunned down; while two children also got hurt in this deadly battle.

This isn’t another story or blog post on placing blame to these military pilots. This is an important story that everyone should see, so we can prevent a disaster like this, from happening in the future. Let’s make sure the Reuters Reporters, Saeed Chmagh and Namir Noor-Eldeen, didn’t die in vain. We can’t go back and fix this terrible morning for these two men and their families. We can learn from this situation and prevent other men and women and their families from facing this same tragic outcome; where innocent lives were lost and two children got hurt.

I would like to thank the men and women who freely sacrifice their lives for me each day. At the same time, I would like to thank an organization like Wikileaks or Wiki Leaks, for the bravery to come forward and expose things like this to the American people and to others around the World. Wiki Leaks is doing a good thing. If our own Government would just be honest and realize the American public can handle stories like this, we would not have all of these news headlines and our 6 o’clock news breaking stories like this. The U.S. Government is responsible for creating a group of individuals like Wikileaks and it will only get worse; until the American Government becomes more truthful about their actions and allow the Citizens the ability to hold politicians accountable for their actions in Washington, D.C..

July 12th 2007 is a date for us to remember and learn from. This is not a date to blame and judge how others reacted. We only got to see 17 minutes of this day. We have no idea to the circumstances that led to this horrible event in Iraq. We also don’t have the information of any punishment; which could have been handed down to these Apache helicopter pilots. Sure, these pilots said some negative things and did act very relaxed, in a situation which was perceived to be hostile. These are just boys or young men, who are not yet mature in adult years and they may have acted in a video game manner. Enough folks out there have let these pilots and U.S. Officials have a piece of their mind. I want my smart and intelligent readers to look beyond the “blame game” and help come up with constructive answers, so we can provide answers to the U.S. Military and do what ever we can, to provide support and information to the dedicated and hard working folks at Wikileaks. Tweet

*In honor of Saeed and Namir who gave up the ultimate sacrifice to their Iraqi Nation, so people in Iraq and around the World could help Reuters to provide the most news worthy coverage as possible.

Maybe in the northern U.S. States, home owners are more careful about selecting a location for their modern mailboxes. Especially when it comes to the thought of having an out-of-control winter driver heading for their defenseless mailbox on the side of the road. In the South, we don’t have these same concerns, as the folks living up North. We rarely see the snowy and icy conditions on the roadways; which makes driving a hazardous situation. When it does occur, we are often left unprepared to deal with the aftermath of these auto accidents.

Just recently, we seen arctic blast after arctic blast hitting the southern states. All of this cold winter air mixed with the typical rains we see in early December and caused havoc in many southern U.S. States. This was due to the fact, our rain had became a mixed of wintry precipitation. As far south as Florida was feeling the cold winter blasts coming down from Canada. In Georgia recently, a freezing rain situation set up just before it was time for the evening rush hour. This freezing rain caused many roads in the Peach State to freeze over and become a small sheet of ice. Not only did this cause major problems for the drivers, who were trying to get home, but the stainless steel mailboxes paid a huge price for this unusual mix of snow and freezing rain. A lot of the drivers who were sliding off the road, found their way into the front yards of unexpected home owners. Often it was the mailbox that got caught up in these winter accidents and many of them were knocked down or destroyed by the inexperienced southern drivers.

I think a lot more home owners in Georgia and other southern states will place their mailboxes in more strategic areas now. While most of the country is out now shopping for those last minute Christmas gifts. There will be a lot of new blomus mailboxes that get sold over the coming days. For all of the ones that got knocked off their perch, by the motorists who slid on icy roads, during this latest winter storm; which really isn’t a winter storm, since fall is still in effect for another week.

The first thing that comes to mind, when I think about girls and Christmas, would have to be Barbie. Most parents can’t go wrong with her and Barbie is a classic girls gift. Not only does this popular doll come in a number of varieties, but you have all the different Barbie accessories. After you get the doll, parents can shop for a Barbie Car, the Barbie 3 Story Dream House, and an endless supply of Barbie Fashions to dress her up in. I found one Barbie item selling online this year, that I think most girls would love to have. I can see the Barbie Ultimate Nail Dryer Set for Bath and Beauty being a hot Barbie item this holiday season. Amazon is the best place online to shop for new Barbie accessories and for the absolute lowest prices too.

One more thing I like about the Barbie collection of girls items, is the Barbie make up kit for the younger girls. Your youngest daughter might be trying to wear make-up, like her older sister, but her make up is a little too grown up for her. I think the youngest girls in the household, would feel just like the older girls, if they had the chance to play with the 32 Piece Barbie Make-up Set. Parents don’t have to worry about the older daughters and the teen girls in the house either. I have seen some very nice make-up sets selling for the older girls at really low prices online. Two make-up kits caught my eye this year. One was a $40 All-In-One make-up set and another for a little bit cheaper and it was the $30 Eye Shadow Set with 192 colors. Both of these make-up kits would give a lot of options to your teenage daughters and I’m sure Mom might want to borrow this from time to time too.

Playing the popularity game at Christmas time can be hard on parents. We don’t always know which gifts are in-style and which ones went out. I can help a few parents to get hip this Christmas, by suggesting one of the hot girl gifts for this year. The FurReal Furry Frenzies is a collection of stuff animals that are really gaining in popularity. These cute and lovable stuff animals are designed by the Hasbro Company. While these stuff animals were available last year, the line has grown to include more animals and at different ages. A lot of these FurReal Furry Friends will be the top gift on the list for many girls this holiday season. Below is a quick TV commercial, showing you two examples of the FurReal Furry stuff animals from Hasbro.

FurReal Furry Frenzies

I know a little girls out there want a dog for Christmas. If you just can’t get them the real thing, maybe a toy dog is the answer. Or you can always turn to the Play-Doh Company for great gift ideas for girls. They even offer a Play-Doh Puppies Playset and this is a lot cheaper than a real puppy dog. This puppy set from Play Doh is currently priced at under $10, so a perfect little item you can get, while addressing their desires to have a real dog for Christmas this year.

Another item that caught my eye this year was the Dairy Queen Blizzard Maker. Gifts on Christmas morning need to have a lot of bold and bright colors. This DQ Blizzard Machine, which makes real ice cream blizzards caught my eye. I just thought how wonderful it would be to see this toy on Christmas morning. This isn’t just for the girls either. I’m sure the little man of the house would like to see this Christmas gift on his side of the Christmas tree too! You can order this product with refill packs. The more refill packs you get, the more you can expect to pay. The first link above will take you to the Blizzard Maker for about 25 bucks. You can go here: DQ Blizzard Maker with 3 Refill Packs and will be looking around $65. So the price range for this colorful Christmas gift is about $25 to $65. Lots of refill packets and dessert mixes you can buy separate and you can find all of these DQ Blizzard Maker Accessories at Amazon.

Girl Gifts for Under $20

1. LeapFrog Learn and Groove Music Wand – $14

2. Fantasma Magic Set with DVD – $9

3. Disney Fairies Tinkerbell and the Lost Tresure Play Make-Up Kit – $15

4. Fisher Price Laugh & Learn Tea Set – $19

5. Fisher Price Laugh & Learn Sing with Me CD Player – $20

6. Alex Toys My Giant Busy Box – $20

7. Alex Toys & Little Hands Art Series – $8

8. Project Runway Fashion Tote – $16

9. Mindware’s Make Your Own Mask Kit – $18

10. Friendship Bracelet Maker w/56 Threads - $18

11. Orb Factory Sticky Mosaics: Jewelry Box – $15

12. Uncle Milton Rainbow in My Room – $19

13. Crayola Color Explosion Glow Board – $15

14. Littliest Pet Shop Collector’s Starter Pack – $8

15. Corolle Calin Baby Doll – $20

These are just a few of the girl gifts that caught my eye this year. The good news is, you can order each and every one of these products online at Amazon. No long shopping lines, no crowded malls, and no stress in trying to find a good parking place. You still have time to order these items online and have them delivered before Christmas Day arrives.

I’m sure there is at least one gift idea on this page for every little girl out there. Gift # 15 on my list is the Corolle Calin doll and these are usually pretty expensive to buy. Finding one online for $20 is a great deal. Gift #12 is the rainbow for your little daughter’s room. What girl would not want to have their very own rainbow? This gift does run on double AA batteries, so if you decide to get the Uncle Milton Rainbow, please don’t forget to buy the batteries! Gift #11 the Orb Factory Mosaics has a very high 5 star rating at Amazon. The parents that took the time to review this gift, gave it the highest possible rating, so I’m sure this one would be a winner on Christmas morning. Once you get over to Amazon, you can scroll down to the bottom, to find other helpful gift ideas. If I can do this, I’m sure any parent out there can. Enjoy your holidays and happy shopping!

What Time Is It?

 

Is it really 12/05 already? Wow how time flies! On December 5th of 2010 will be the first anniversary of Bedside Alarm Clocks. This will mark the one year point of our service and customer satisfaction, we have been providing for our customer’s alarm clock needs. We have been pleased with our growth and success over this last year. During this time we have grown into one of the biggest and best alarm clock companies for providing a large variety, name brand products, and a customer satisfaction policy that is 2nd to none!

Will we rest on our accomplishments and achievements now? Oh no, its just not in our vocabulary! Why? Because we like waking up with you America! Our bedside alarm clocks have been the start of every day for so many people. We know our huge selection of name brand clocks has been a big part, of waking you up each morning, for work or school and we want to continue building on our successful mornings with you!

We are going to work even harder in our 2nd year of operation. So we can continue to provide you with the lowest prices and the most up-to-date selections on alarm clocks, projection clocks, atomic clocks, and other alarm clock radio products. While all businesses like to say they want to be your one-stop shopping source for this or that. We don’t only say it, but we practice it, and we truly are your one-stop shopping source for the alarm clock industry.

Families Who Have Already Slept with Our Products

For 1 year now, families have been laying down beside our alarm clocks for a worry-free night of sleeping. Its no fun going to sleep at night and worrying if the alarm clock is going to wake you up this time or not. There isn’t a lot of restful sleep for these families, who are using a bedside alarm clock, that has seen better days. In some cases, the alarm clock might work fine, but what happens if the power blinks or goes out during the night? BedsideAlarmClock.com offers alarm clocks that have a back-up battery in place and will kick-in, if the electrical power has a breech during the night. Now how is that for a stress-free night of sleeping? Look for these special alarm clocks and others; which provide a long list of helpful and cool feautres, so your family can begin sleeping like the other families, who already have our alarm clock products in their bedrooms.

Our Toast To You and Your Family

We would like to make a toast to all of our first year customers, who made this a successful 1st year for our company. We couldn’t have did it without you and be in the position we are now, if it wasn’t for your trust (or bravery), in giving us a chance to provide you with a name brand alarm clock. We have learned a lot in this initial year and we still have a lot of learning and growing to do. We have found a lot of new ways to service our future customers better, because of your orders, comments, suggestions, and just overall feedback. Thanks to you, we have had a lot of new data to look over from this first year of  Bedside Alarm Clock in operation. If you promise to continue ordering our products and leaving feedback for us, when it is warranted, we pledge to continue providing you with the best alarm clock choices and lowest prices, so we can be your first and last stop for a brand new alarm clock.  Cheers!

A Highlight of Products Available @ BedsideAlarmClock.com

*Alarm Clocks

*Atomic Clocks

*Alarm Clock Radio

*Projection Clocks

*Travel Clocks

*Sonic Clocks

*Novelty Clocks

*Wall Clocks

What Customers Have Been Saying:

Bedsidealarmclock.com took such good care of me! A glitch in the system was preventing my order from being processed. When it came to the attention of the company president, he not only stepped in to fix the glitch, but thanked me for brining it to his attention, and offered me more-than-generous compensation for my trouble. That’s good business!

Linda Pizzitola

———————————————————————————————

When I couldn’t decide which clock would be best for me because of my difficulty

Seeing at night, a sales team member “Fran” at bedsidealarmclock.com was very

Pleasant and helped me choose the alarm clock that was perfect for me!

Eleanor

———————————————————————————————

Seaside Solutions – Questions, Comments, and Suggestions

Seaside Solutions LLC
230 Byron RD
Meriden, CT 06451
support: (866)297-8990

John Hinman (Owner) 

EMAIL: support@bedsidealarmclock.com

Once again, we have so many football fans in the South disregarding the BCS Rankings and the other major rankings in college football. They are just giving too much credit to the Pac 10. No matter what it is in life, there is always a good rule of thumb you can follow. If you ever want to get to the bottom of something, just follow the money. Where does the money in college football lead to? For about a decade now, the boosters and a very wealthy and powerful group associated with the USC Trojan football program is where all the money starts and ends in college football. You can just follow the USC football program over the past few years and see how they continue to get way too much credit, for a program that is mediocre at best.

Go back to Vince Young and their underdog team the Texas Longhorns, facing the mighty Trojans and Matt Leniert, who were easy favorites to win the National Championship. No way did the Longhorns have a chance to win this title game in college football. One team that did match up better against Matt Leniert (who has never found his way in the NFL yet) was the Auburn Tigers. The SEC team from Southern Alabama had a couple of good tailbacks in Cadillac Williams and Ronnie Brown; along with a talented QB in Jason Campbell. These 3 players from Auburn have all 3 been the starting RB for their NFL teams (Williams – Tampa Bay Buccaneers; Bown – Miami Dolphins) or the starting QB  for his NFL team (Campbell – Washington); while star QB Leniert from USC has not been able to hold a starter or solid back-up role in the NFL. How could these 3 players be kept from a shot at playing a 1 star USC Trojan team in the title game a few years back? This is simple. The Auburn Tigers was the best team that year and the Longhorns or Trojans couldn’t have beat them. It made for a better game to put the 2nd and 3rd place teams in a National Title Game; than to let Auburn play.

The SEC can’t produce undefeated teams. It’s just too tough, with all the good teams in the Southeastern Conference. When one does manage to “luck up” and go undefeated, it’s a no-brainer to put them on the National Stage in the College Championship Football Game. The SEC has won the last 4 college football championships, because the best talent plays in the South. This is a fact and not a bias southern opinion.

What screws everything up, each year, is people like Kirk Herbstreet, who puts way to much of his air-time on TV, to talk and pump up the Nation about the USC team and the other PAC 10 football programs. Herbstreet doesn’t hide the fact he is (or was) a big fan of the USC football program. His ties with Pete Caroll ran deep and not only did Caroll cheat college football and the fans and players associated with the USC Trojan team, but Kirk Herbstreet played a financial role in this college football scam too. Herbstreet has been paid very well for his tongue and the words he has pushed for on the TV air waves. To promote the Country on the super talent, the super teams, and the super program in Southern California; which make up the Pac10 Conference in college football. The truth is the Pac 10 is very weak and for most years over the last decade or so, the Pac 10 isn’t even one of the top 4 NFL Conferences in college football. I think they may have been 5th best conference in 2 of the last 10 years and the other 8 years, clearly not even a top 5 conference in college football.

So who benefits? Well once everything gets pushed and moved around and USC fails to make another appearance in the BCS Title Game, the power shifts and another PAC 10 team gets rewarded for the bogus rankings, that get pushed on to USC and their opponents; which is mainly Pac 10 football teams.

Have I lost you yet? Well with all of that said, you can still break it down year by year and see how USC is the direct blame. It is their group of wealthy fans and boosters; which pay money to the football program and to the players, coaches, media personalities like ESPN’s Kirk Herbstreet, and to those who hold a vote in the college football ranking system. All of this money gets pushed into places, where USC is guaranteed a higher ranking than any other school who matches their season’s record.

Before I can show you how Oregon is the clear number 1 choice in the Rankings (even though they shouldn’t be), I have to show you where USC plays key roles in this year’s cheating scheme of 2010. It’s really hard to understand how USC could have worked their way into the top 25; when there is clearly 30 teams or more in college football, who are better than them.

USC Trojans AP Top 25 – 14th in the Country. The USA Today Rankings don’t even see them as a top 25 team. How does this happen? First, no way did USC have enough coming back from their horrible season last year, to warrant a top 25 spot, much less 14th! USA Today has it right, since this team has a new coach and no big talent returning. This is the PRESEASON RANKINGS.

Week 1 – USC travels to Hawaii and beats them by 13 points. Even though USC gave up 36 points on defense, they beat a 9 – 3 football team on their own field. This is a descent win for USC. The AP drops USC 2 spots to the number 16 team in the country (little unfair and USC should have kept their previous ranking). USA Today Ranking still does not put them in the top 25.

Week 2 – USC wins at home against Virginia who is a 4 and 8 football team this year. USC wins by 3 points (17 to 14) despite this 4 and 8 football team from the ACC gaining more yards than USC and had 4 more first downs; while playing on the road in a hostile environment. The Virginia Cavaliers is one of the weakest teams in the Atlantic Coast Conference and are actually listed last, in their ACC rankings. AP Top 25 drops them down 2 more sports (deserved it) and the USA Today still does not have them on the Top 25 radar, after winning their first two games. Seems to be a big difference in opinion. One system starts at 14 and now has them 18 with 2 wins and the other just ignores them.

Week 3- USC beats an unranked Minnesota team by 11 points on the road. Now things are getting strange! USC drops 2 more spots in the AP Top 25??? A poll that saw them as the 14th best team in the country and this 14th ranked team wins their first two games, two descent road wins and a shameful home win and again USC drops 2 spots to number 20 in the country. The guys at USA Today still don’t see wasting their ink on them and USC fails for again to make the top 25 teams here.

Week 4- USC travels to Washington State and blows out a 2-9 Pac 10 team. Now the AP 25 Poll awards USC for this win and moves them back up 2 spots to the number 18 team in the country. This is disturbing that USC beats 3 non-Pac10 teams and drop 2 spots each week. Suddenly a Pac 10 opponent appears on the schedule and they get awarded 2 spots in the poll for beating them? USA Today still leaves USC off their rankings. A 4-0 team is not ranked on USA Today; while the AP has kept them in the top 20 all year long and gave them lots of help, by ranking them 14th in the preseason polls. Things really begin to stink here, if it wasn’t already, and here is proof the Pac 10 gets too much credit in football. The AP Poll has found a way to take a shot at the ACC; while giving the Pac 10 a boost. USC loses 2 spots for beating a weak ACC team. Then turns around and awards them 2 spots for beating a weak Pac 10 school. This is part of the math calculations and cheating; which takes place on the Pac 10 side of things in college football.

Week 5-  USC suffers their first loss of the season. They get beat at home by Washington (Pac10 school) . The Huskies are a 5 and 6 team and a below .500 team has just went into USC and beat them on their own home field. You know USA Today will keep them off the list for another week and the AP 25 finally is able to push them off of their list and now the USC Trojans are no longer ranked on anyone’s list as a top 25 school. As you can see, overall record of 4 and 1 isn’t bad, but no competition and with a weak schedule, they have lost 1 home game and won another home game by 3 points, to the worse ACC Team.

Week 6- USC losses for a 2nd straight week. Finally they play a rank team in number 16 Stanford, but should Stanford be the 16th best team in the country at this point? USC and Stanford both had the same record at 4 and 1. USC unranked; while Stanford was all the way up in 16th place with their 4 wins over Sacramento State, UCLA, Wake Forrest, and Notre Dame. They did not have a win over any top 25 team and their 1 loss was to a Pac 10 team Oregon. In comparison, the South Carolina Gamecocks (SEC school) had played 1 less game on the schedule, but they had 1 loss to Auburn and had beat number 22 Georgia (top 25 school). South Carolina is number 19 in the country with a win over a top 25 team; while Stanford has beat no top 25 teams. Right here is a problem. Stanford from a weaker PAC 10 conference is being given more credit than a SEC school; when the SEC team has a victory over a top 25 team. So Stanford because a PAC 10 springboard; which this conference needs, so they can keep up with the SEC. No poll has USC ranked for a 2nd straight week.

Week 7- After losing two straight, USC gets back to winning against a Pac 10 California team who is unranked. The Golden Bears is a 5 and 7 team this year, so another team below .500 for this year. Nothing impressive here and neither poll awards USC for their win; which they shouldn’t have.

Week 8 – USC’ BYE WEEK – The team played against no one. Both polls keep USC unranked.

Week 9 – Time to play the number 1 team in the country. Nice for USC to have a bye week, before such an important game. Oregon comes in to USC’s stadium and beats them by 21 points. If you beat a team by 21 points, that’s a convincing win, right? If you beat them by this margin on their own home field, it leaves no room for doubt, that this was a solid win and the home team deserves no credit. However, we now see USC move back into the top 25 AP poll? How could this be? Sure you played the number 1 team in the nation, so you’re expected to get beat. If you only get beat by a field goal or a touchdown, it could show some signs of strength. This did NOT happen! USC got beat by 3 touchdowns and they had home field advantage! Some interesting stats developed in this game too.

*Oregon produced exactly 222 more yards on offense than USC did. That is amazing in it self, but what if I told you that the USC Trojans had the ball on offense for 5 minutes and 10 seconds longer than the Oregon Ducks? Did the Pac10 officials try to help USC win this game? USC had 3 flags threw at them the whole game and they got penalized for only 22 yards. While Oregon got flagged 8 times for 85 yards. Oregon almost had 3 times as many flags against them; and was 3 yards shy of having 4 times the amount of yardage subtracted from them. I believe the Pac 10 officials working this game, was in favor and took bribes to try and help the home team USC to win this game or at least to keep it close.

History of USC Flags and Penalty Yards Before the Oregon Game:

1. @ Hawaii -  11 Flags = 100 yards

2. Virginia – 13 Flags = 150 yards

3. @ Minnesota – 7 Flags = 71 yards

4. @ Washington State -  5 Flags = 39 yards (Opponent 2 flags = 15 yards) Refs Let Them Play Here

5. Washington -  5 Flags = 49 yards

6. @ Stanford – 8 Flags – 53 yards

7. California – 8 Flags – 54 yards

8. Oregon – 3 Flags – 22 yards (opponent 8 flags = 85 yards) Either 1st or 2nd game for USC to have lower flags/penalty yards than their opponent.

I won’t push too much on the corruption angle here. Even though USC got the bye week before playing Oregon and the referees did lend more help to the Trojan football team; than their northern Pac 10 opponents got. Oregon did have 9 days to prepare for this game, but USC still got 5 more, as they benefited from a full two weeks of preparations.

The main point I wanted to make about the bye week and the ref’s giving USC all the calls, is the fact, that USC still lost this game by a considerable margin.

*Homefield Advantage

*Awarded 63 More Yards by Officials wth Penalty Flags

*Controlled Ball on Offense 5+ Minutes

These 3 things in a football game, can help a team to win or make it a closer game than it should. USC got beat by 21 points and gave up 50+ points, to a team that had the football 5 less minutes than they did. In no way should USC should have moved up in the polls.

Now comes the most disturbing part of my debate. I have walked you guys through each week of the season up to this point. After USC loses this game to the number 1 Oregon team, I have them calculated as moving up from no rankings in the AP Top 25, to the number 24 team in the Country. I know my “Week 1″ , “Week 2″, etc.. might be a little confusing, but I first showed the preseason ranking with USC number 14 in the AP Top 25 Poll. Then I start with “Week 1″ for the first game USC played. Based on that result, I go ahead and include the Sunday ranking decision on my Week 1 statements.

If you tracked this online at Yahoo, you would see they go from a “preseason ranking” to a “2″, “3″, “4″, etc… They never list “1″ on their rankings; while I did include a Week 1 on mine.

If you go to Yahoo Sports and look at Oregon’s season, you will see they got credit for beating the 24th ranked USC Trojans on their schedule. I don’t think this happened and I believe USC became 24, after losing to Oregon. I know, I know, that doesn’t make much sense, so obviously I am the one who is wrong and Yahoo has it listed correctly.

If this is true and I am wrong, it only goes to prove my corruption point further with the NCAA, Pac10, and the AP Top 25 Ranking. Why? Because let’s remember what happened to USC before the Oregon game. Nothing! Absolutely nothing happened before Oregon rolls into the Coliseum at USC, because the Trojans had a bye week!

So is the AP Top 25 Poll, trying to convince college teams, coaches, players, and college football fans; that the USC Trojans actually deserved to move up, not 1 to number 25, but up 2 spots from a unranked position, to the number 24 team in the Country, on their bye week?

SEC Teams are commonly losing ground in the rankings; on their bye weeks. It is not uncommon at all for a team who doesn’t play one Saturday, to actually lose spots. To move up, by not playing, would call for a lot of special circumstances. The USC Trojans had only played one team in the top 25 and that was Stanford, who was ranked 16 without a top 25 win; while South Carolina was 19th and they did have a top 25 win. In Stanford’s defense, you can give them credit, since South Carolina had a bye week and had played 1 less game. But if you go that route, it only hurts USC even more, by moving them up 2 spots; while they took a week off from college football.

Oregon has been given credit for beating a top 25 team (24 USC); while USC was ranked at number 18 in the AP, they lost their WEEK 5 Ranking; when they got beat by Washington. WEEK 6 Rankings show USC as an unranked team. They lose to Stanford for back to back loses, and continue to not be ranked in WEEK 7. They get back to winning and beat California, but the AP doesn’t view this as a quality win, and in WEEK 8, the USC Trojans are still not ranked. Now USC goes into their bye week, and the new rankings come out; which vault USC to number 24??? They moved up at least 2+ spots, to number 24 after playing nobody. Over their last 4 weeks of college football, they have lost 2 games, beat a California team, who had 2 losses and no wins over a top 25 school, and a bye week, and was not vaulted to any where after the California win, but received more credit, when they just didn’t play?

This is an obvious attempt, by the AP Poll and their voters, to give the Oregon team, a top 25 win. Oregon should not have credit for beating a top 25 team; when USC moved into number 24, after a bye week. You just can’t go from unranked to suddenly top 24 ranked, with a bye. Even with faulty top 25 win, does Oregon’s resume still look better than the Auburn Tigers? Not only does Oregon have the benefits of being ranked as the number 1 team getting ready to play the number 24 Trojans, but the AP at this point, has Boise State in 2nd place with 11 first place votes to Auburn’s 3 votes! And Oregon with 44 first place votes!

1. Oregon – 44 first place votes – 1 Top 25 Win (Stanford)

2. Boise State – 11 first place votes – 2 Top 25 Wins (Oregon State & Virginia Tech)

3. Auburn – 3 first place votes – 3 Top 25 Wins (South Carolina, Arkansas, LSU)

Now obviously the AP Voters are given some credit for margin of victory, as they should. But let’s keep in mind, this is the standings and votes after 8 games. Oregon has played only 1 top 25 school in 8 games and Auburn has met 3 top 25 schools in their first 8 games. Almost half of Auburn’s schedule has been with ranked opponents, so it’s a little tougher to win by wide margins, when you’re facing tougher opponents.

Auburn’s unranked opponents consist of teams like Kentucky, Mississippi State, and Clemson. They had 2 easy opponents in Arkansas State and and Louisiana Monroe; which they beat both easy by a combine score of 104 to 29.

Now let’s look at Oregon’s unranked teams, since they have 7 on their list, compared to 5 for Auburn. The good unranked teams Oregon beat in their first 8 games; were really no one!  Oregon beat Tennessee, who was able to win their last 4 games of the season to finish at .500. So Oregon really played the Volunteers when they were at their worse. Oregon beat Arizona State and they were 5 and 6 this season. Oregon beat the UCLA Bruins from the Pac 10 who was 4 and 7 this season. Oregon had wins over Portland State and New Mexico who finished a combine 3 wins and 20 loses for the season. And the only other win was against Washington State from the Pacific 10 Division in college football, who was 2 and 9 this season. After 8 games into the college football season, we have a team who beat a top 25 team and 1 team with a .500 record. They had 6 wins over teams who were under .500 and 2 teams with 2 wins and 2 teams with 1 win!

How exactly do you award 41 more first place votes to a team like that, against an Auburn team who has played 3 top 25 teams. Then won against a 8 -4 Mississippi State team, who is now ranked 22 in the country, really giving Auburn 4 wins over top 25 teams in their first 8 games. They beat 2 more .500 teams in Kentucky and Clemson. Beat Louisiana Monroe who had a 5 and 7 record this year and beat Arkansas State who had a 4 and 8 record. Auburn’s worse team two teams were 5 and 4 win teams. While Oregon played two 1 win teams.  Move up the ladder to the next two games and Auburn defeats a SEC and a ACC team (Kentucky and Clemson), who both finished with .500 records in two tough football conferences; while Oregon’s ladder goes into the 2 win teams. I mean really, Oregon played 4 teams in their first 8 games that finished the season with 2 wins or less. Auburn never played an opponent in those first 8 weeks of the season, who would end this year with 4 wins or more.

It’s important to point to this out, because Auburn’s competition level is 100X stronger than what Oregon had to face in these first 8 weeks and yet, they found 41 more first place votes! It’s just ridiculous and even more ridiculous when you see how USC made their way into the top 25, right before the Oregon game on a bye week.

Anyone in the country can compare the Auburn schedule with the Oregon schedule and see which team has faced tougher opponents. Yet, Oregon is ranked number 1 in the country and plays a weak in-state rival with Oregon State; which Herbstreet was quick to point out Saturday night, how this game is not a cake walk for Oregon, even though Oregon State had just got beat 38 to 0 earlier in the day. While once again, Auburn has the cards stacked up against them, as they have to face another top 25 team and play them on a neutral field in Atlanta, Georgia for the SEC Championship Game.

Auburn has already had to sit out of a championship game; while having a perfect season. No fair to make them jump through any more hurdles; when they have clearly deserved the first place votes and should be number 1 right now with a wide lead and some wiggle room.

Now that college football is coming to a close with only the bowl games left to be played, what sporting events are you looking forward to the most this winter?

A) College Football Bowl Games

B) NFL Football Games

C) NBA Basketball Games

D) NHL Hockey Games

E) NCAA College Basketball Games

In my state of Georgia, I have a dog in every fight when it comes to professional and college sports. No one sport sticks out for me, but probably having a successful NFL football team is the most exciting. I enjoy the NBA games too and nice to know my local basketball team is better than average. I would hope my pro teams could all make the playoffs this winter and going into next spring.

I really like some of the college kids we have playing in the NCAA college basketball games this year. Over the last several years, the Georgia Bulldogs basketball team has not been a lot of fun to watch. They did manage to win a SEC title, during the year, where a tornado went through Atlanta, during the SEC college basketball tournament. Georgia was big underdogs that year. Since they had to play two games in the same day, due to the tornado damage at the Georgia Dome and games were moved to the Georgia Tech campus in Atlanta, it made it that much more special.

I believe the NFL is still the most exciting winter sport. They just don’t play many games and their season is very short. I really love watching NBA basketball, but you do get to watch 2 to 4 games per week, in most cases. The best sport I will be looking for this winter, will be determined on which one of my local teams in the Peach State are doing the best, in regular season or post season play. Which winter sport has got you most excited this year?

The historic Wrigley Field in Chicago, Illinois is set to do something today, they haven’t done in 72 years. The north side’s favorite team the Chicago Cubs normally play baseball at this historical, athletic field in Northern Chicago. This will all change on Saturday, November 20th when the baseball lines and configurations get turned into a long 120 yard field for football. A football field is 100 yards long and each endzone or where players on offense seek to score a touchdown is 10 yards long each. So it isn’t an easy task to set a 120 yard long field into a park known and really made for baseball.

This historical match up will feature Northwestern University taking on the University of Illinois. The media has been following this Wrigley Field College Football Game all week and now the time is getting very close for the kick off. The last time Wrigley Field saw a college football game, was back in 1938. I’m sure a lot of sports bars in the Chicago area probably ask a local sports trivia question on their trivia nights. I could just hear a question asking what two college schools were the last two teams to play a college football game at Wrigley Field. For the last 72 years, the answer would have been St. Louis University and Depaul. That was so far back in history, that neither one of these colleges offer a football program any longer. Sports fans who like to play trivia in the local Chicago sports bars, will now have to know that Illinois and Northwestern will be the last college football game to be played at Wrigley Field, once this game gets played today.

The last I heard about the weather conditions in Chicago is good. I’m sure schedule makers had big concerns on what type of winter weather, might be in store for the Windy City, for this late November football game. Just last year, Wrigley Field created some excitement in the hockey world, by staging an outdoor NHL game; which featured the popular Detroit Red Wings and the hometown favorites Chicago Blackhawks. The defending Stanley Cup Champions the Red Wings from Detroit, would win this New Year’s Day Game in the friendly confines of Wrigley Field. Fans were excited to see the Blackhawks get off to a quick start and take a 3 to 1 lead over the 2008 NHL Champion Red Wings. However, the Detroit hockey team would storm back and win this outdoor 2009 Winter Classic by a final score of 6 to 4.

2009 Outdoor Hockey Game – New Years Day @ Wrigley Field in Chicago

As for predictions, I will go with Northwestern to beat Illinois by a 21 point margin 31 to 10. The kick-off is about 2 hours away and I’m sure the sold-out crowd of 40,000+ fans is already in the parking lots doing the normal college tailgating thing. It should be interesting to watch this game and see how the players on the field hold up to the ground conditions in this moist and windy environment. I did hear the wind is blowing out today at Wrigley, so this means it will be a high scoring game! Good luck to the kickers in this game. I am positive they will need some help from Mother Nature, to survive the spiraling and hard-blowing winds; which often occur in Wrigley.

I use to deliver flowers for a living. I can tell you first-hand that people love to get flowers. Especially when you deliver them a nice floral pattern of fresh flowers in a vase. I believe the fresh flowers is what my unexpectected customers enjoyed the most. You can brighten someone’s day up by giving them flowers. If you don’t normally send flowers to your spouse. You can really surprise them, by sending fresh flowers on a day they are not expecting anything. Forget those special days and holidays for sending flowers. Just an ordinary day of the week, where you think your spouse might be having a hard time. You can really give them a boost and a big surprise, if you will order them some flowers; which can be delivered to them at work. The women really like to get flowers, when they are at work and can show it to all of their co-workers. Be sure you brighten up someone’s day and send them some nice, fresh flowers at work. They will remember the flowers, longer than any other gifts you send them on a birthday or any other special holiday celebration.

Remember the record player? What seems like an invention that was around in some other life, is really something that is not that far removed from society. I’m still in my 30′s and I remember the record player very well. It seems over time we forget certain things and pretty soon they are gone forever.

The Kool Aid Man at one time was a popular figure in this country. A few kids on a hot day screaming for the Kool Aid Man and watching him bust through a wall to deliver some cold Kool-Aid has been lost in history. I don’t see the Kool-Aid Man anymore. He seems to have disappeared with the record player.

Even Jimny Cricket is no where to be found in this new 21st century generation. A cartoon character like Jimny Cricket was built to be here for many years, but yet he has disappeared with many other American icons, we can no longer find in our day to day society.

Television programs are famous for being here one minute and then gone the next. I can remember a TV show called St. Elsewhere that use to be popular. I never did watch it much or even like it, but others did. I wonder where the fans of St. Elsewhere have gone? Do the fans of this TV show even remember they use to be fans of St. Elsewhere? I know Hill Street Blues will be remembered, thanks to the catchy music the show came on with each week. If a television program doesn’t have a catchy theme song or music, it may just get lost with the record player too.

Sports athletes come and go too. Remember a king that use to play in Cleveland? Where did this resident of Ohio go and why did he abandon his home state? So many things change places these days or become yesterday’s news too fast. Our favorite sports heroes are no exception and they seem to light up the stage for the shortest of times and soon the wind picks them up and just blows them away.

It all started with us forgetting about the record player. If we can remember the record player use to exist in our world, we can remember a lot of other things we use to love in this life. It wasn’t that long ago when the record player was the most popular thing in our household. Now it has been replaced by technology and who knows what inventions will replace the things we love so much today. It’s only a matter of time, until some of these new-age inventions get picked up with the wind and become as lost and forgotten about, as the record player we use to love so much.

It is that time of the year again, where deer hunters everywhere are heading into the woods. They are all hoping to get a good clean shot, on a big nice buck. Hopefully the hunters will not fall asleep and allow the deer to roam freely on their hunts. I could only imagine how it would feel to miss an opportunity like this one.

I do like how deer hunters approach their hunts. Most will arrive in the woods around 4 a.m. in the morning or 2 hours before the sun comes up. By the time the sun is starting to shine through the trees, your presence from two hours earlier should all be gone. Hopefully those sounds you hear of something in the leaves is not a squirrel and something bigger, like a nice big trophy deer. After the daylight has come is really when you first begin hunting, even though you been outdoors for 2 hours. From this point, it all depends on how much patience you have, for determining how long you will be willing to wait for a deer to come along. Some hunters will leave if they haven’t heard or seen anything in 2 hours. Others will allow the 10 a.m. hour to arrive and the really patient hunters give it until noon, for them to spot their deer.

Deer hunting does take a lot of patience. There are some stories of deers getting caught in the wrong place at the wrong time and makes it too easy for the deer hunter. Most of the time, you can expect to take multiple trips hunting, until you get a good clean shot and within 100 yards of a nice deer. The hunters who take a shot from 200 or 300 yards away, really have to trust their aim. This becomes a very long walk, trying to look for a wounded deer, when you shoot them from long ranges. Typically a nice close shot on a big buck will deliver the bullet to the best place possible. I believe the back shoulder of the front legs is where most hunters try to aim. I believe there is a bone there in the deer and if it gets crushed from a bullet, the deer is pretty much unable to walk or run. Shots that miss the target will still kill the deer in most cases. Since the deer is startled and begins to run, this only causes the heart to pump faster and causing blood to exit out of a gun shot wound much faster. However, before the deer runs out of blood, they can still scat a good mile or further. So accuracy is really important to a deer hunter.

I know the deer meat is really good. I probably wouldn’t like it so much, if I could go to the supermarket and buy it anytime. Since it’s rare for me to get deer meat, I enjoy more because of this reason of rarely eating it. I never ate any good deer steaks; which most people really like. I usually enjoy the deer chopped into small chunks of lean meat and cooked into a deer stew. It’s hard to find too many foods on the menu, that are better than a big bowl of deer stew, on a cold winter day. What is your favorite way to prepare a piece of deer meat? For any tips or advice on ways to cook it or any secret vension recipes, please be sure to share them. Just reply back to this blog post, with your top deer recipe. I’m sure others would like to know of a new way to cook up a little bit of Bambi.

Not sure when it started and I doubt it will ever stop, but somewhere along the line, women thought it was fine to own lots of shoes. Men can usually get by with 2 or 3 pairs; while the ladies want a different pair for each day of the month. I think in some cases, they have even more shoes than this. It’s not just shoes either, but they like all footwear like sandals, high heels, and even boots. Yes, I said boots! A pair of hunter boots in a window display won’t last long, once a woman makes eye contact with them.

I recently watched a program on television that was about lottery winners. It would show all the different things these people would buy, with all of their recent winnings from a huge lottery jackpot. For the women, it seemed to always be the same for them. In almost every case, the woman would have a closet that was bigger than the size of my bedroom. In that huge closet would be shelves; which were filled with shoes. I’m talking about 100 or more pairs of shoes! If you were looking for a pair of stuart weitzman shoes, I’m sure you could find them in these lottery winner’s shoe closets. They probably had shoes from just about every shoe company on the planet, in these huge closet spaces.

There are only so many times during the day, we can put on a pair of shoes. Only so many occasions to go out and wear a nice-looking pair of shoes. I know some of these shoes aren’t getting worn much, since there are so many to choose from. Buying a new pair of shoes and only wearing them once or twice a year, doesn’t make much sense. But neither does owning so many pairs, you can’t even wear them all within a month’s time. I don’t really have no answers to why women love shoes so much. I guess I will have to research this more online and maybe try to find a women’s shoe blog for help. Do you have any idea why ladies and shoes seem to be attracted to one another? What ever the suggestions or answers might be; I don’t think it will ever make much sense for the men out there.

There is a little seaside town on the coast of Italy called Castellammare di Stabia. For the most part, no one in the World really knows where this small little Italian town is and the few who do, probably all live in Italy. Well that may all change soon, with a new dress code policy for this little sea side town in Italy. It’s new proposal on banning the mini skirt and other clothing items that aren’t appropriate for wearing in public, is making headlines all over the World. It’s funny how these small town stories can catch fire and pretty soon, they have spread all over the planet, and often new things get added in along the way. I guess if I was doing my job correctly, I would need to fabricate something in, but for the most part, I found the headline interesting.

What Is a Mini Skirt?

I’m not sure on the correct definition for a mini skirt or a mini dress, but in my opinion. Any dress that  doesn’t go below the knees, would be a mini skirt or a mini dress in my book. A dress that comes down and is right above the knees or is almost touching, I would probably just say is a normal dress. I’m sure the kind this small Italian town wants to ban in Italy, is the kind of skirts and dresses; which come several inches away from covering any portion of the knee areas.

Mini Skirts Flock to the Teen Choice Awards

Here is 3 very popular celebrities in America, who pretty much could go any where they wanted to go. I think we know of one place in Italy, which would not let any one of these 3 girls in their town, since all 3 are wearing mini skirts. Yes, the tiny town of Castellammare di Stabia would be against anyone, who chose to dress like this in public. Do you think the rule or new law would be a move in the right direction, for us to ban mini skirts?

What about our own American standards here in this country? If the Italian town is being too harsh with their new laws, perhaps our country is being too relaxed with our dress code in this country? Is it really appropriate for these celebrity girls, to show up at a Teen Choice Awards, in dresses this revealing? What about the majority of the age groups; which attend these Teen Choice Awards? We are not talking about 17, 18, and 19 years old for this teen audience. There is probably more kids attending who are not teens yet; than the ones who have had a 13th birthday and have become an official teen. I may be getting my programs confused, but it seems a lot of fans attend these teen events and are not even teens their self yet.

Now getting back to the dress code policy; which one Italian Town might start enforcing soon, would not only be a ban against the famous mini skirt. They are looking at other items of clothing too. Anything that a city or town official would deem as inappropriate, could be breaking these new dress code rules. Those low-rider jeans; which are real popular in America and worn by girls of all ages, could also be another target of clothing, for which this small Italian Town is trying to clean up.

I know it may be easy for us to sit in judgement, but we really have no idea what the adult women and teenage girls are wearing around town on a daily basis. This might be an area of Italy; which has really went down the tubes in recent years and now officials are trying to make a stand and clean it up. Or this could just be a very tight community of residents, who have gotten use to living and dressing in one way, in this seaside community, and now strangers have moved in and are not accustom to the same clothing designs, that have normally been around for these residents to wear.

Wearing one of the mini skirts or a pair of these low rider pants in public, could be a costly mistake for these residents. I’m sure the fines will be on the low end starting out, but repeat offenders could be spending out some serious money, for the skirt or pants they choose to wear. These dress code fines will range from 25 Euros to 500 Euros; for breaking one of these new laws in Castellammare di Stabia, Italy.

Now when it comes to dumb laws and rules in certain areas of this country (USA) has a few, that most people in other countries would not believe. In most cases, some of these laws have just never came off of the books, so technically they would still be up for prosecution, if someone really wanted to get you, for some weird and unusual crime here in the States.

I noticed dumb and unusual laws was not just limited to the United States of America. While checking out these dress code bans, in this tiny Italian city on the coastline, I noticed there are some more laws around Italy; which deserve a little fame and recognition too! If you live in Italy now or if you’re a Italian-American, you might be aware of a few of these weird and silly Italian Laws.

*Somewhere in Italy, prohibits the building of sand castles (not sure if you can build other shapes and things in the sand, or if playing in the sand is banned all together, in this area of Italy)

*Somewhere in Italy, you can not be kissing inside a automobile or car (no kissing in cars, sorry guys, dating might be a little expensive in this part of Italy…relax girls, no worries tonight, surely he will not break the law?)

*Somewhere in Italy, you are not allowed to feed stray cats (I actually see the purpose here, but don’t think human food makes up a big part of a stray cat’s diet…if you do get caught, quickly let the officer know, that is your Uncle Vinnie’s cat and you was only giving a cat with a home, a little bit of food and not one of those homeless stray cats; which is against Italian law somewhere)

*Somewhere in Italy, it is against the law to mow your grass on the weekends (yes this really is an Italian Law, I can’t make this stuff up…so I guess we know where a big population of sports fans live in Italia…sports all weekend long and the grass can only be cut during the week….this sounds pretty good to me!)

While Italy is a lot like the United States and both countries have a number of silly and strange laws on the book, it’s the recent dress code changes in Italy; which is receiving the most world-wide attention. A small Italian town next to the sea shores of Italy, has been able to put their tiny community on the World Map, as news agencies from all over, come to find out more, about the ban on mini-skirts and other revealing wardrobes; which will no longer be tolerated. Fines will go all the way up to 500 Euros and while I don’t know exactly how much that is, I’m sure it’s more than a high school girl, wearing lowrider jeans, would want to pay.

Now this coastal town has gotten their 15 minutes of fame already. Nobody else will think twice about the place that banned mini skirts, after this week is over. Unless some of these women decide to fight back and protest their rights to wear low rider jeans and the common mini skirt. If this should happen, we could actually see a dress code, making front page news, all over the world and to my knowledge, this has never happened for a dress code or any new laws; which made mini skirts illegal to wear.