Favre busted, but Sterger should be the one embarrassed!

 
So poor old Brett was finally fined after his little rendezvous with Jets reporter Jenn Sterger. His fine, $50,000 which basically amounts to about 3 minutes of play time based on his salary is nothing to him. And many are saying that because of that fact, Favre was let off easy. But I do not agree. Just simply the way this all went down, Favre is going to lose millions in endorsements. Or so people think. I still believe that regardless of how tarnished his public image may be, he will still make money out of football. He is Favre after all. The Hall Of Fame Ironman of the NFL. And that's alot coming from a life-long Chicago Bears fan.

People all over are also starting to say that this whole fiasco paints a negative picture for females everywhere. Because if he can sexually harass this female and get let off so easy, what kind of precedent does this set. Now wait a minute! First of all let us take a look at the sexual harassment claim. Mrs. Sterger did not take this claim to the proper authorities when it occurred. Had this actually been a sexual harassment claim, don't you think she would have gone to league officials or New York Jets officials? If you were harassed at your work place, you would have went to your boss correct? Why didn't she? She only said anything to them after THEY had questioned her when they heard the story from the Deadspin web site. This leads me to believe that she is after the money in this case.

And why not? Sure Favre has tons of it right? So maybe that is why she got involved with him in the first place. Maybe she baited him into this whole situation. Brett is a guy after all isn't he? It is very plausible that she could have planned this whole thing out knowing full well that she was going to hit him up for cash later on. I mean look at it.. the story took two full years to surface. She did not take it to her boss right after it happened. Why not? Was she hoping she could try to blackmail Favre? That is also possible. Things just do not add up in this case. And when you start to consider all of the possible avenues and the possible outcomes everything points to Mrs. Sterger taking advantage of the fact that she is a female in a typical sexual harassment case. But this is far from typical. Because what do we have here? Some text messages? A couple voice mails and a lewd picture from Mr. Favre? Sure.. it is enough to get Favre's wife mad, but hardly enough to say that he harassed this lady.

I may end up following parts of this case, I may not. It is interesting to me how it has played out so far. The fact that Favre was fined what equates to almost nothing is what has most people annoyed. Here is another star football player getting star treatment. Maybe. But when you consider the facts in the case and how Mrs. Sterger appears to be taking advantage of Favre's position and wealth, I don't think the fine is terribly off base. What else could the NFL have done to Favre anyway? He is most likely calling it quits after next Sunday's game against Detroit. So it is not like the NFL can suspend him for any more games. All they can do is fine Favre. And I don't think giving him a hefty fine so it actually effects his pocket book is fair. Not to mention it would set an awful precedent in the NFL for future players to be fined based on what they did and relative to their league earnings. Based on the situation the NFL did absolutely the right thing here. Mrs Sterger may still pursue Favre in a civil case, which she will most likely do. Now that she can smell the money since the NFL fined Favre. Because that basically means that a "governing body" has found Favre guilty of something. And now her lawyer can take that into court and try to prove that since the NFL found something wrong, a judge or a jury should also.

I surely hope that this goes away. Not for Favre's sake, but for women everywhere. Women should stand up and stop Mrs. Sterger from taking any further action. She is giving all women a bad name. Let's face it, when somebody wrongs another person, especially in a work place, you must follow the proper chain of command. In the case of a work place violation, that would be your immediate boss. Then his boss after that and so on and so forth. Sterger did not do that. She waited a really long time, and then took the story to a tabloid website, got paid (through a third party to make it look like she did not profit. Don't let her fool you - she did), and now since the NFL brought the charges against him she decided to speak up. So she is taking the offensive only after the fact. Then she is going to try and say that she is doing this so other women don't have to feel her pain and embarrassment? Give me a break! She should be embarrassed that she is even taking this public in the first place as she did. And if this is how educated, professional women act in the face of adversity and when being wronged, god help us all.

FavreSterger got paid from the tabloids and will surely win a settlement in a civil case. So she will get her big pay day, which is all she was after anyway. So if we can leave it at that everyone should be happy. Everybody except the viewing public that is. Because face it, this leaves a sour taste in everyone's mouth.

Holidays are here and gone!

Well, well. Another year has come and gone again. I don't know about you, but for me it seems that every year comes and goes just a bit quicker than the last. And 2010 is no exception. It was however a strange year as almost everybody warned that the year would be slow economically. And that shoppers would stay home a bit more than in years past.

But contrary to all the predictions people were out shopping quite a bit. I even heard some reports that claimed shoppers spent more than $450 billion dollars this holiday season. That is approximately 3.3 percent higher than last years number. In today's sour economy and with the unemployment rate at almost 10% that is freaking amazing! So what exactly does that mean? Well, I think it means that people are ignoring the bad taste left in their mouths from everything that happened this year in the US and around the world. They ignored it all and were hell bent on enjoying themselves.

It doesn't mean that society has  turned a deaf ear to the worlds problems. I just think it means people needed a break. With all the earthquakes, oil spills, mud slides, sink holes, murders and everything else that happened, people wanted to escape from all the crap that happened and enjoy themselves. They spent money on themselves, on their families and on their children. They figured' "well honey, our house may be worth 25% less than it should be, we lost money in the stock market, and you lost your job, but I'll be damned if I am gonna let it ruin our Christmas!"

Ultimately this is good for America. It shows that even in the face of adversity we can still come out on top. We can still rescue our economy and support our merchants. We can still have a good time! As a country we are spending more money on luxuries as well. More and more people are going to sporting events, eating out at restaurants and buying cars for themselves. Our economy will slowly rebuild itself if this thinking continues. And why shouldn't it? We are showing everybody that we don't need the government to bail anybody out, all we need to do is what Americans do best. And that is to do everything to excess. If the world thinks that we are all cheeseburger eating, beer drinking slobs who spend money on frivolous things we don't need.. then let's do just that! Because if we do, we will not only feel good and have a great time, but we will rescue our country's financial disaster slowly but surely and have a damn good time doing it!

GM looking to boost its "Green" image.

In trying to find ways to help the environment, GM announced that they will recycle the oil soaked Boom from the BR oil spill. The Boom for all who don't know (myself included) is a protective layer of a plastic type resin laid across a 100 mile stretch of the Alabama and Louisiana coastline meant to shield the marshes and other habitats from the encroaching oil that resulted from the BP oil spill.

The boom will be processed to remove the oil and then shipped to Indiana where it will be recycled into more than 100,000 pounds of plastic resin pellets. The pellets will then be used in molds to produce a part that protect the GM Volt's radiator. The Chevrolet Volt is one of GM's electric vehicles. This is one of the ways that GM is looking to increase their "clean and green" image in the coming years. A trend many manufacturers will follow for sure.

"This was purely a matter of helping out," said John Bradburn, manager of GM's waste-reduction efforts. "If sent to a landfill, these materials would have taken hundreds of years to begin to break down, and we didn't want to see the spill further impact the environment," he added.

GM said they try to recycle materials at every stage of their product life-cycle, integrating those materials into roughly 90 percent of the vehicles they produce. This is surely a great way for a company in an industry that uses oil to help out. I can see this happening more and more as different companies get involved. That is one thing that I have to compliment America on. No matter our faults as a society, when tragedy's occur we usually find a way to pull together and help rectify the situation. This is yet another example of that. I don 't own a GM vehicle, but something like this would definitely play into my decision to buy one. Good goin GM!

Separation of Church and State?

It seems this has been coming up more and more of late. But with people up in arms over taxes and the economy it sometimes gets ignored. It is a common constitutional law that our government, should not promote one religion over another, or promote any religion at all. And it would seem that it would be an easy enough thing to do, however if you pay close attention, you can see violations of this almost everywhere.

I guess it can come down to what degree you consider it a violation of the Constitution. But if you were to ask me, reciting a prayer before a government function of any kind would be a good one. And that is exactly what is happening in New Jersey. Over in Point Pleasant Beach New Jersey, the City Council is taking the time to recite the Lord's Prayer before every meeting. Now they were protested against and the ACLU even got involved and brought a suit against the city council. So it was at that time, determined that they would observe a moment of silence instead.

Well, leave it to those whacko religious types to put one over on everyone. Because as soon as the moment of silence took effect, they counter-protested by reciting the prayer anyway during the silence. The ACLU had dropped the suit when the moment of silence was enacted. But since the counter-protest and the prayer started back up, so did the ACLU. They brought another suit against the city council and a state judgee has now forced the city council to stop until a decision can be made.

I for one applaud the judge and those who are fighting this act of defiance and prayer. Far be it from me to step in anyone's way and stop them from praying. But do they have to do it at a city function? I don't think they are pushing their specific religion on anyone, which I believe is what the suit is fighting. However to impose a prayer at all during a legislation meeting of a city government is just wrong. And as I said at the beginning of this article, the separation of Church and State is as common as any right levied by the constitution. And not just the Federal constitution, but the constitution of the State of New Jersey also proclaims the same law! So c'mon people.. I am sure you would ask someone to keep their prayer rug at home if they were paying respects to Allah before each meeting. So why can't you do the same? Pray at home before you head into work that morning. Or if you need to pray together then you can all meet at Starbucks prior to the city council meeting and pray. No one would argue with you then. Just be sure you order a coffee first!

Government Pay Freeze!

This is not necessarily breaking news, but it is news none the less. Recently President Obama made the decision to freeze the pay for most of the 2 million government workers. The pay freeze applies to all Executive Branch employees including civilian employees of the Defense Department, but does NOT apply to military personnel, government contractors, postal workers, members of Congress, Congressional staffers, or federal Court judges and workers.

Not surprisingly this move has alot of people in the government sector up in arms. The freeze will take effect on January 1st of 2011 pending Congressional approval. And I don't think Congress will try and stop the bill considering their pay will not be effected by this legislation. This decision will save the government $2billion over the course of 2011 and $28 billion over the coarse of the next 5 years! That is a whole bunch of money!!

The problem is that the reasoning behind the move is a bit more complicated then you might think. At first glance, you think ok great.. the bloated government is going to sacrifice just like the rest of us do. But sadly that is not the case. After some research into the bill, you begin to see that most of the people who will be hit with this freeze are the people that work beside our wonderful government in the civilian sector. I guess the one good thing, the saving grace if you will, of this whole fiasco is that it is just a pay freeze. Meaning after the proposed two years are up, people who deserve a raise in pay may be able to get one.

So who does suffer? Well.. it turns out that most government employees and appointees were hit last year when Obama put a halt to all bonuses for those positions. So civilian jobs that work with government officials seem to be the ones that will be effected. As well as government employees in the Department of Defense. I mention this department because many people hear this and assume that it means the military. However this is not the case. The military is not effected by this freeze. So those who protect our freedom and put forth the greatest sacrifice of all will not be touched by the freeze.

But we must remember, this is only a pay freeze. And though it is not exactly good news for those effected, it is not necessarily completely bad news either. A year ago Obama made cuts and took away bonuses and other pay incentives that certain people have grown accustomed to for years. This is a different situation, no one will be losing money. They will just not be getting any extra money over the next couple years. And that is the fact that many people seem to ignore. People see the word freeze and have started to freak a bit. And yes, most of these jobs work long, hard hours. And I bet that most of these jobs are not easy and come with a whole bunch of stress. But so do many other jobs in the civilian sector. Those of us who work every day and usually 6 and sometimes 7 days a week just to put food on the table are no stranger to work. And unfortunately we too have not seen many raises lately. If we can keep from being laid off that is.

As Cheech and Chong have said, "Things Are Tough All Over". And we all struggle to keep what we already have. Many in government are saying that Obama is only putting this out there as a political public relations stunt. Saying that government nurses, border patrol agents, and other personnel are being unfairly targeted for Democratic election losses. And I can see where this would be the prevailing thought. But can any of us say that is positively the case? No we cannot. And when the federal budget will end up saving around 5 billion dollars over the coarse of the bill, it sounds like a good move to me. Yes, it sucks if your the ones effected. But alot of these positions are already being paid over what similar positions in non-government related fields are being paid. So if you do not get a raise for the next two years, I think they will survive. And all of this may be a moot point anyhow as congress will be lobbied hard to put an end to this bill.

So in the end, we stand a chance to save about $5 billion. An amount that will not even put a dent in $1 trillion national debt. We also have a bill that has many government officials up in arms and vowing to fight this to the end. We have many in the civilian world that are of the opinion that this is a good thing. Much like any bill that touts cutting government spending. The public sure loves cutting money from the already over-paid government. But this bill kind of splits it down the middle because it hits the civilians that work with the government. So it will be interesting to see what happens in the end. If Congress allows this to pass or not. One thing is for sure, if this passes you will have many who will be taking a much closer look at pay levels of government officials. And because their paychecks will start to take a hit, they will look for other ways to save the money. And to see what starts to get cut will end up being where the story really starts.

You Shredded What!?!?

A man in Taiwan was seriously hating life until a few days ago. He accidentally shredded $200,000 in Taiwanese bills last month. It amounts to around $6,600 in US currency. He had the money in a bag and somehow dropped the bag into a shredded at the plastic factory in which he works. Now, why he would even have his money in a bag and around this shredder in the first place is beyond me. But oh well.. I guess that's why we all make fun of those crazy dudes eh? Anyway.. so how did he solve his little problem?

Simple. He brought the money to a local official who passed the shredded loot on to the forensics division of the Justice Ministry's special investigations unit, which offers a free service repairing damaged cash. There a 30 year veteran of the office nicknamed the jigsaw expert put the shredded cash back together in 7 days! Forensic scientist Liu Hui-fen was quoted as saying, "it was difficult and required much patience".

If you ask me, this guy with the destroyed cash was very lucky. A local bank declared the money sufficiently repaired and spendable once again. I wish we had a service such as this, as far as I know as long as you have more than 50% of a ripped US bill your ok. But any less and your up the creek. Wonder what was in his fortune cookie?

San Francisco bans Happy Meals with toys.

In a measure to control childhood obesity, the Californian Board of Supervisors today banned toys in Happy Meals that do not meet the new nutritional standards. The move also effects any other fast food restaurant that serves toys with meals that do not meet these standards. If you ask me, these are not "standards" but efforts to control what we eat based on someone else's opinion. This is a ridiculous move. And obesity or not, anyone voting for something like this should be voted right out of office immediately!

This is nothing more than an act that takes our government one step closer to socialism. Why should our government at any level, Federal - State - City - Town, be allowed to control what we put in our stomaches. Honestly, it is bad enough that we allow them to control the other things we put in our bodies, such as medications/drugs. It should not be up to one person to dictate what another person does with their body so long as what they are doing does not effect that other person. And in the case of McDonalds and their Happy Meals they are not hurting anyone. They are in no way forcing you to purchase this particular meal. There are many more cases of companies and other organizations actually forcing people to do things such as pay ridiculous fees or submit to unnecessary tests in order to gain their services.

Take the example of a Doctors office and your medical records. The records a Doctors office holds of your care are your records. Should you want to have these records sent to another office or take the records or a copy of the records for your own safekeeping, the office can choose to charge you an unorthodox fee in order to gain access to the records. Or just flat out deny your access all together. Why can't the government step in there? Or in many of the various other cases of wrong doing happening all over the country? Of course not, because they would rather waste their time and our tax money to regulate how we eat or better yet, how we feed our children.

So back to the law being enforced in San Francisco. The new Lt. Governor who was previously the Mayor stated in his election speech that he would veto the new law. But apparently his veto will be pointless because I guess with the vote being 8-3 in favor of the law, the Board can override his veto! It is sad that in a country where we cannot pass unemployment for the people who really need it but we can surely protect the rich from paying a little more in taxes that a silly little cheap-ass toy that comes with a burger and fries is seen as a problem. A problem that we have to make a law for and we have to teeter on socialism for. Our for-fathers would be rolling in their graves if they were alive today and could see what is happening.

Comcast - The monopoly that was.

To many, Comcast is a Godsend. To others they are the devil! I am kind of in between. I love the fact that their Hi Speed Internet is truley high speed (although that can at times be debatable). However, the fact that they are THE ONLY cable company you can really get is a bit frustrating. Or are they?

Years back I was involved in trying to help get a movement pushed in the Tri City area for a fiber optic cable Internet service that would be run by the city or cities. This effort was quickly smashed by Comcast and their supporters. Why? Because offering the people of this area an actual choice would serve to damage the ability of Comcast to make money. Sure they would still have the vast majority of the area as their customers, however that would slowly begin to dwindle as time went on. And they could not have that. No. Not at all. So they used their great advantage of money and their friends in the various city halls to kill the proposal before it went to a vote. The following year, the same was tried again, and it actually made it to a vote. But by then the support was not enough to beat Comcast, who was very well engrained in the fiber of the community.

Now we are all aware that monopolies are illegal in America. Funny however how many companies can be considered a monopoly if you take a close look at how they operate and where they operate. Now take a close look at Comcast in this area of the Midwest and you would see that they are running a monopoly on the cable industry. Or are they? Today you have many options with regards to Internet service and who provides that service for you. If you take a look online you can find a few companies that are willing to send you the equipment you need through the mail and will set you up with service. But are these companies viable and will they provide reliable service? Especially when you compare what they are actually giving you with what Comcast can give you. Plus, Comcast is a local company. You can literally drive to one of their offices and pick up your modem if need be. Some of these companies are totally viable options. Look at AT&T. They will give you Internet service and they can now do that along with phone and Satellite TV service too. Then you have places like COX or WOW. Both of these companies can provide you with Internet service.

So in a world where just 5 years ago you could look at a company such as Comcast in an area such as the Midwest, and you could call them a monopoly. Today that has changed. The options are starting to come out of the woodwork because technology is growing at an ever increasing rate. The only thing that remains from the days of Comcast running a monopoly is their lack of great customer service. They do an OK job, but that's just it. They do not strive to provide customer service that will blow you away. They are content with just giving you service that will suffice. Since their competition is just starting to really become a viable. They are still not being effected by better service provided by those competitors. Soon however. Soon they will feel the pinch and be forced to do it better. The only problem is we want the better customer service now.

So there you have it. Comcast, not the monopoly they once were, but still in effect a monopoly in how they do business. Does this affect us, the customer? Sure it does. Although we have more options today, the service we get from any one provider is average. I have not heard any reports to the contrary or that make one company really stand out. Everything is just the status quo. Just make do.. that must be the motto of most companies today. Or at least the ones with old money behind them. Because the way the economy is only the new business or the struggling business will go out of their way to please the customer. Everyone else is just happy to get through a transaction. What they should be happy about is having a customer in the first place, and act like it!

Chi Obama, Racist?

Now some people are just way too sensitive. I know that over the years society has taken maybe a couple steps back in the whole racist game. There are things that happen at times that get people a bit up in arms. Things that are said that are just taken a bit overboard. Sire.. sometimes people just take things to heart a bit too much.

Take the Chi Obama. There are certain people out there that are bent on stopping the sale of this particular "Chia" because they say that the Chia Obama is "caricature-like". They say it represents a time when blacks were made fun of with "white-face" and because the Chia Pet bares a resemblance to a black man with a 'fro. Well, if this thing is anything it is funny lookin. I wouldn't be trying to stop the sale of this because it looks too much like a black man, which it does. Sorry. But I would be trying to stop the sale simply because it looks funny. Or is it supposed to. You know they do say that mockery is the highest form of flattery. Maybe they have somethin there... you be the judge.

Are you really that shy?

Seems today that most people traveling are way too upset about strangers patting them down and having to go through the full body scanner to even fly today. I heard a report on the morning news that air travel for the holidays (Thanksgiving) is down by at least 15% (estimated). All best guesses are that this is due to the TSA's new safety measures. Namely the Full Body Scanners. And if you decide to opt-out of the full body scanner then you will have to undergo a seemingly standard pat down.

I don't know about you, but the pat down in itself is harmless. Same with the scanner. Sure the scanner will give whoever is viewing the monitor a general outline of your body, but it is not like they are getting some rated X view of whats hiding under your clothes. Are we that shy as a society that this is going to bother you? Don't we know what guys and gals body's look like by now? And that being the case, why are so many people trying to avoid these scanners? To me, the scanners seem like a great way to avoid another terrorist attack! Being that the scanners will find every type of conceivable weapon that can be hiding on ones person, this is a huge safety win for travelers!

So now you have the protesters. They picked today, the busiest travel day at the airports to stage their protest. And sure, strategically that makes perfect sense to me. If your going to protest something, anything, you would want to do it when you will get the most publicity and attention. That is by far the best way to get your cause out there. So sure, pick the day before Thanksgiving to do it and pick a few if the busier airports to do it in. And you are sure to get noticed. However, is this really necessary? Are the scanners and the pat downs really an invasion of your privacy? Or are you just trying to say that everyone's safety takes a backseat to the fact that your worried the TSA agent behind the scanners monitor might spot that mole your hiding under your left breast?

Look, after all that has happened over the years with regards to terrorism and the various attacks, especially 9-11, are we really that ready to pack it all in and declare that we are no longer in danger? I don't think so. The threat is still very much real and we are still very much a target. We must stay vigilant in this for the foreseeable future. Because as soon as we let our guard down in when we will be the victim yet again. Tensions amongst the global community are still high, and the attack on South Korea does not make things any easier.

And I will make one guarantee. If these protesters were to win (which I highly doubt) their argument and get these scanners pulled or the pat downs scaled down - they will be the very first ones calling for help when there is an attack because someone was able to smuggle a weapon on board a plane!

Be safe! And if you do have to travel by plane this holiday - use the scanner. Because of all the people opting out the lines for the scanner is much shorter and you will get through security without a hitch! I guess that is one thing these goofballs are doing for us, making the wait and the lines much shorter for all the "normal" people out there!

Douchebag of the Week!

And here we go again. I must say though, this weeks choice has got me a bit conflicted. Never in all my "fanboy" days have I ever thought that I would pick a company like Sony for an award named "Douchebag of the Week". But the time has come. And sadly, Sony and Playstation has won this week's Douchebag of the Week award!! However, one thing that does also ring out in my mind is the impression that the contestants give of a gamer. If the world looks at these dorks as a cross section of an average gamer, we are in trouble.

Anyway... off to the award. We give this award to those who demonstrate an ability to be an total tool. And among other reasons, Playstation has done this with their second installment of the show. For those who do not know or are not aware of the show. In The Tester, Playstation takes 12 contestants and puts them through a  series of challenges geared towards choosing one of them to become a game tester at Sony's facility in San Fransisco. Just like any other reality game show the contestants live together in a loft specially designed for the show. But that is not the reason that we chose Playstation, or the shows producers as the Douchebag of the Week. Keep in mind, the show is aimed at finding a game tester. So obviously the skills and knowledge required in performing the duties of that type of job are at the forefront of this competition. So why is it that Sony and the Producers of this show would choose a participant who does not even own a PS3!!

That's right. You read that correctly. The contestant named War Princess admitted during the first elimination that she did not even own the game console that they are here competing for! Is it that they (Sony) were just looking to pad the field? Were they looking to just put some drama into the show? I wouldn't see the point of that considering this show is not on any regular TV network. The show only aires on the Sony Playstation Network and is downloadable through the Playstation Store. So the average tv viewer or audience will not see this show. Generally only people who own and play a PS3 will be watching the show. Therefore logic would dictate that the participants of the show would represent those in the audience.

This is definitely a ridiculous move by Playstation. Out of the thousands of people who applied to be on the show and win the grand prize, Sony makes a mockery of the whole process by choosing someone who does not even play the system they are promoting. C'mon Sony, have some loyalty to the people who support your product. Give back to the community who put in so many hours playing your game and supporting your product against the masses who declare the Xbox is superior (even though they would be wrong). As they say in the show, Sorry Playstation.. Your Game Ends here!

Football at Wrigley once again!

It may end up being a vote for Douchebag of the Week, but the Big Ten has opted to play some football at Wrigley field again,. Billed as the Allstate Wrigleyville Classic, this game marks the first time that football has been played at Wrigley since the Bears beat the Packers on December 13, 1970!! That is a very long time.

Why the vote for Douchebag of the Week? Well, it seems that amongst the myriad of different people and organizations that were involved in the planning of this game/event, nobody in their infinite wisdom thought it may be a good idea to take some accurate measurements of the field to insure that it meets regulation standards for the dimensions of a college football field.

You would think that something like this would have a planning committee or someone who would have taken care of these type of things at least a year ago! Not literally 2 days before the game is to be played. Looks like up to that last minute, the game probably would have gone off as planned too. But they had the media in the stadium to take some pictures and to hype the event. Upon doing so, someone had mentioned that the east end zone did not seem to meet the 12 foot rule. And if not for that I don't think they would have even considered taking a look at that rule. And for those who are not aware of what this rule is (I sure had no clue and it seems many in the know did not either) the rule basically states that a field must have at least 12 feet from the end of the end zone line to any wall or obstruction. So someone brought this to the Big Ten's attention at the last minute and they were forced to abide by the rule.

So what do they do? They already have everything in place for the game.. all the advertisers, the tickets are sold, ESPN College Gameday is there broadcasting from Clark and Addison. Well, what they do is this. They make the adjustment to the rules for the game and dictate that all offensive plays will take place heading in the direction of the western goal line! So basically any defensive plays that happen to go towards the eastern goal line will obviously not be stopped. You cannot stop an interception in the middle of the play and turn it around. So all defensive plays will be allowed to finish, obviously. But after that play, or any play, once it is established that the offense for either team will take the field. The team will be turned around and execute all their plays for the series heading in the direction of the west end zone. Pretty funny.

Now I don't watch college football. I'm not a fan. Too many teams, too many conferences. I have never paid attention or gotten enamored with the sport at the college level. Though many, many do. I just cannot get into it. But I can tell you that this is a game I will be watching. If not the whole game, then at least the first quarter or half. Just to see what happens with the field configuration and the offensive rule change. Not to mention everything that the commentators will be saying about it considering the game is on the national stage with College Gameday on ESPN. This should be very interesting.

Waddle - A Real Class Act!

I am from the Chicagoland area. And growing up in the city limits of Chicago it is no big surprise that I am a Bears fan. Now, if you are a Bears fan you no doubt know the name Tom Waddle. The guy was probably the most sure handed receiver that ANY team has had at the position during the 90's and without a doubt probably during this era as well. He was a small guy, and not the fastest either. But when you threw the ball to him it was a guaranteed catch. Over the middle with two or more cornerbacks targeting him, knowing he would get creamed, he would still make the catch. I remember one game he got knocked unconscious 2 or 3 times and still came back in the game to make catch after catch. Including the game winner right after needing smelling salts to get back on his feet.

Anyway... as I was running around this morning doing my daily routine, I was listening to ESPN Radio 1000 and a show that he co-hosts with another gentleman. Well they were talking about a listener who had wrote an email to the show. This listener was on his way to Miami with a few friends to catch the Bears vs. Dolphins game taking place this Thursday. Well this guy was trying for what seems to be the last week or so to purchase a Wadldle jersey from a couple different online shops so that he would have it in time for the trip to Miami.

Sadly all the places he had tried could not get a jersey to him in time. The closest anyone could do was to have it to him by Friday, and obviously this was too late. So this guy wrote into the show hoping that his story would get the guys (Waddle and Silverman) to help him maybe find a jersey in time for the trip. And here is where Tom Waddle steps in to be the hero!

After hearing this guys dilemma, Waddle proceeds to tell him that he has only one jersey remaining from his playing days. It is one of the throwback jerseys that the Bears wear on occasion. And although many people don't like the style of those jerseys, Waddle did like them so he had always made sure to hold on to that jersey over the years. Not only did Waddle just have only this one jersey as a memento of his time in the NFL, but he really did not have much more except maybe a helmet or two. But, since this fan was looking for a Waddle jersey and was striking out everywhere, Mr. Waddle tells him that if he can make it down to the station he will borrow the jersey to him so he can make the trip to Miami for the Bears game just as he had planned - sporting a Tom Waddle #87 Bears jersey!! Now if this isn't cool, I don't know what is!

When is the last time that you have heard of, or seen a past NFL player act in such a selfless manner? This jersey is without a doubt worth about $400 at least. And while it is not a high priced and high profile star of the league, it is still something that is dear to this guys heart and one of his last remaining memories of his days as a player in the NFL. And Waddle does not even know this guy! He is just some guy out of the  blue that happens to be a fan of his radio show. And Waddle is going to lend him something that holds that much value to him? That is just ridiculously cool of him. This guy is truly a class act in my opinion. If more people would even do half of what Mr. Waddle is doing for this fan the world would be a better place!

Are they serious?

So this is not news to anyone. We have all heard about these new ads, and if you haven't you might have just been living in a cave. But the FDA is rolling out some new marketing aimed at scaring people, mainly teens, out of smoking.

Smoking causes cancer... Really?

I sure am glad I was warned! I mean, ok.. so the picture does have some effect. I looked at it and went, "eww!" But that's about it. The only thing alarming about this is the fact that the FDA would think this sort of scare advertising is going to work. For the teens that smoke just to get back at their parents (yes, they are out there), these ads will do nothing to deter them from smoking at all.

So this is where our tax money goes? Between state governments working on ways to control what and how we eat, to other federal entities spending money to tell us things we already know. I sure am glad that we have such responsible people giving the final ok on where the money goes. The FDA made something like 30 of these ads and their aim is to put them ON the actual cigarette packs! That seems a bit excessive don't you think?

I understand that smoking is bad for you. Hell, we all do. Every smoker out there knows it is bad for your health. Is society really that ignorant that we need the government telling us just how bad it is? How much is spent yearly in studies to figure out just how bad smoking is? A few hundred K? A couple million? I have no idea, but I bet it is alot. On top of it, they will also spend money trying to find ways to cut smoking out completely. How much does the government spend in trying to control or limit tobacco growth? How much is spent to lobby against the tobacco lobbyists? All this because the do-gooders out there are trying to tell us that what we are doing is bad for us. Are we not smart enough to make our own decision about these things? Are we that ignorant that we cannot figure out over all these years from age 4 to age 18 that we should not be doing this? With all the negative press out there it is pretty simple to figure out what is good or what is bad for our health as we progress through our lives. Yet for some reason... we need

to help us out.

"Post this as your status"

What is it with people today? All these Facebook junkies? I mean, FB can be cool at times. Givin' you a chance to quickly connect with some friends or throw a few pics up for people to see. I get the point. I get why people have grabbed on to the whole idea of FB.

But c'mon people! Are you telling me that you seriously cannot get enough of your own original idea, or original thought in your head that you have to grab someone else's quote and use it as your status? And that's not even the screwed up thing here. What really gets me goin are these fruit-cakes that take something, like lets say an anecdote about something like mothers who like baking apple pies... "if your a mother who likes pies and baking them really makes you happy then post this as your status"

And then 5 other people post it as if to say, "Wow your right! I could never have said that for myself! I am so glad you wrote that, or found someone else who wrote that so that I could post it on my page and show off how cool I am!"

Alright! Keep it up! Lets continue to show the world how completely empty we are! Not to mention how great it makes me fee when people can take something like Facebook and turn it into their sounding board and their little piece of the 'net in which to show everyone just exactly how shallow they can be. Rock on people!

Who will you honor this veterans day?

Sadly, there are people out there that instead of honoring a veteran today, will instead find reasons to put down being a soldier. Or will look for ways to tell you why the American Government is doing nothing but ruining your life. Sure there are many things the government does that piss many people off. And there are things the government does that I myself would say are flat out wrong. But these things are not a reason for me to say I would rather move to another country. And these things are NEVER a reason to not honor a US vet or to show respect to a solider, past or present.

These guys/gals have made the ultimate sacrifice. They put their lives on the line for you! For your family! For your friends and their kids! They sacrifice their lives fighting to defend your right to put down your senator. And for the right for your next door neighbor to be a flamer. That's right, they will defend your rights with their dying breath, no matter how right, wrong or indifferent. That alone is a reason to honor such a person. And those who will just ignore the fact that these people have a day dedicated to them, just because they want to tell you why Obama made a mistake by saying something he said in Korea or with his choice in a certain piece of legislation.... well these are the people who should not only be stripped of their right to say such things, but be stripped of their citizenship. They have the balls to tell you why these things are wrong, yet have no idea that the fact they have the right to say these things are because of those same soldiers they chastise!

This are the people who can just flat out rot in hell!

Todays Reality is not yesterdays reality!

Back in the day, reality shows were a bit closer to being based in reality. They were still far fetched at times. And they were still in danger of being scripted from time to time. But they were far more realistic then the shows of today. Or maybe "realistic" is not what I should be going for here. Maybe what I am looking to say is they are more "plastic". By plastic I mean fake.

The people in these shows are the type of people that would actually seek out these types of shows. Think about it, the people you hang out with or know are probably nothing like the jerk offs you find in today's reality shows. Let me give you an example. Take any of the "Housewife" shows. All the women in these shows are so damn fake that it is unbelievable. I mean it literally makes me sick to even catch a preview of one of these shows.

And I think what makes me even sicker about this whole Housewife thing.. is the fact that not only do we have these reality shows to contend with. But there are shows out there to "review" the reality shows!! They treat these shows as "after party's" of sorts. I mean who the hell wants to watch a show that for 1 hour of your life, will sit there and discuss what happened in one of these reality shows. Does anyone really care that this chick offended this one? Or this lady called this other one a bitch at some party one of theme threw for another chick? Who really gives a shit? I for one don't care! And I find it hard to fathom that there are people out there that do. But unfortunately there are people who care, cause otherwise these shows would not exist right?

I just cant get over this. These people all need to get a life. Not so much the people in the shows. They are doing fine for themselves actually. They have their shows and they are fine with exposing their screwed up lives. The people that really need the help are the people who freakin watch these shows. Sadly I don't think there is any hope for these poor souls. If anyone needs a support group, it is the people who's lives are so messed up that they get wrapped up in someone else's life who live thousands of miles away. Whoever you are you need help, but I doubt there is any help out there for you. You may be screwed for life! Hell, maybe there is a reality show in THAT story!