Back to school, and this time, I'm jumping right in.

Well, I'm a second-semester freshman now. I had my first day of classes (and it was a full day) today, so the semester's already off to a rolling start. In 26 hours back, I've already

• Watched football with some great friends.
• Eaten three cafeteria meals.
• Reconnected with many, many people.
• Unpacked, completely.
• Made a CD exchange.
• Participated in a Rave.
• Lent a book.
• Attended three classes.
• Consumed copious amounts of caffeinated beverages.
• Requested three transcripts
• Purchased two books
• Prioritized.

I'm really excited about that last one. I've got a list going of things I need to do today (Should be headed to dinner in about ten minutes, so I've gotta hurry up writing this blog entry), and a list of "To Do" things in my free time. I'm hoping I can keep this up past day one, but a start is better than I've done in past semesters, both of college and high school (Middle and elementary schools too, for that matter).

Today started with a 7:50-ish wake up call. After showering, I found myself eating breakfast in the caf for the first time since September, and made it with ample time to spare to my CA class. I think I'm going to find it much less challenging than my last attempt at CA 102. My teacher is one of those that will sap up every last second of class time, though. Being a 9:15er, that will be a little tough for me. But I'll deal with it. After about a 75-minute break, I found myself right back in the same classroom for CP. It'll take another class to get a good feel for the class, but I like the literature we're going to be reading. After lunch, I got a really great price on one of my CP books, and comparison shopped for several others. Then for the 3:00 class. Ugh. But it's JMC, and it's my best bet for something so late. I shudder to think about CA at 3. Or CA at anytime for that matter, but I digress.

Anyway, the primary reason I'm writing this blog this afternoon is that one of my primary assignments in my JMC class is: writing a blog! Right up my alley, right? Chances are it won't be located here, but I might just use this one as much or more frequently from now on. I'll keep all six of you that might ever read this (if you are one of the lucky few, do leave a comment and let me know what's up with you! Or, have an idea of what I should blog about? Tell me!) posted as to where you might find this new, professional-like blog once it is created.

Of course, I would be remiss not to mention the big sports news of the day (Other than Jay "Ouch, that really hurt" Cutler), and that is Carson Palmer wanting out of Cincinnati. Hey, the Titans are looking for a new QB. One stipulation, Carson, you gotta switch your number back to the 3 you wore at USC (Incidentally, that's where Coach Fisher played his college ball, if you'll remember). Ain't nobody gonna take Air McNair's number. That's sacred. Well, football sacred at least.

Lastly, on the terrorist attacks in Moscow today, be in prayer for the family of those affected, and the Russian government as they try to deal with an unspeakable tragedy.

Well, that's it. I'll keep you posted on the new blog, and, in case you were the wondering, I'm pulling for the Packers to win the Super Bowl, although I have a feeling I'll be disappointed. Sorely disappointed.

-c

Instant Reaction: VY OUT at Tennessee

Well, this evening, Titans owner Bud Adams announced that Vince Young would not be returning to play quarterback for the Tennessee Titans in 2011, should there be NFL football next year. So, this poses several questions. First, what happens to Vince? Second, what happens to Jeff Fisher? Third, what happens to the Titans QB position? These answers and more, right now.

Now that everyone knows the Titans are getting rid of VY, it really does give Vince a leg up on the so-called "process", in that he more or less will be able to determine his value, and go to the highest bidder, so to speak. This means, if he or his agent think that there's a team willing to spend money, instead of a player or a draft pick or two, for him, it's going to be tough to trade Young away. Something tells me he's going to try to keep the Titans organization from getting anything for him if he sees free agency as a feasible possibility. As a Titans fan, I would enjoy if we could trade him to a team like Denver or Philadelphia for either of their respective backups. I'd even be satisfied if we could get some middle-round draft picks, or even a pick or two for the 2012 draft, from any team interested. As a realist, I don't know if it will work out best for the Titans. I do hold onto the thought, though, that Vince proved himself this year to not be the best leader, and still had to mature a lot. Other teams will look at that one of two ways: either he's not equipped to be on their team, or it was just an environment, and it's worth a player or a couple of draft picks to give Vince a second chance. Here are the top three places I see VY:

1. San Francisco--It seems to me that they have the most to gain from picking up a guy like Vince Young. The Niners will be starting over with coaching, and I daresay they'll be getting rid of both Alex and Troy Smith. At the very least, San Fran will give Vince a shot at earning the starting job. Plus, it wouldn't be a horrible situation if they trade the Titans one of the Smiths (preferably for me, Troy) for Vince.

2. Miami--Maybe Vince can follow the footsteps of LeBron James and take his talents to South Beach. Perhaps he'll be appreciated by a team that has a little bit of a question where the quarterback position is concerned. Hey, I wouldn't complain if I was throwing the ball to Brandon Marshall fifteen times a game...

3. Arizona--Like San Francisco, the 5-11 Cardinals were merely a couple of wins away from earning the NFC West's playoff bid. They drafted Matt Leinart the same year the Titans drafted Young, maybe the Cards were hoping VY would fall in their laps that year...now's a great time to take a chance on him. If Vince was traded, I definitely would rather get draft picks...much better than a guy that takes this s--t too serious.

Next, whatever will happen to Jeff Fisher? I think it is in everyone's best interest that now that Vince is out of the way, Bud Adams lets Coach Fisher run out his contract. He's got one more year; if the Titans have a great season, re-sign the man. If the season's not-so-great, the contract's up, Jeff and the Titans go their separate ways, and there aren't very hard feelings. My only concern is that Fisher will let it get to his head that he's coaching for a new contract, and that has the possibility of more conservative play-calling in certain situations where more aggressive tactics might be needed. But I sincerely think that the Titans should give Fisher at least one more year now that the VY situation is behind us. Quite honestly, I don't know who would be a good replacement should the team get rid of Jeff now, so that's an added incentive to keep him on for another year.

Now the Titans will more than likely be looking for a quarterback going forward. I say, definitely keep Rusty Smith on, and have him work for a possible starting job, but bring in a 5- or 6-year veteran QB that hasn't necessarily started a lot, but is a good talent, to compete with Rusty for the job. I'd like to see either Troy Smith (2006 Heisman Trophy winner from Ohio State, formerly of Baltimore and currently with San Francisco), Kevin Kolb (benched for Mike Vick in Philadelphia), or Kyle Orton (the seasoned Purdue alum tossed around from Chicago to Denver, most recently benched for Timmy T) brought in for that purpose. I would keep Kerry Collins on in an advisory sort of role, maybe do some player-coaching if he's ok with it. The other option is to use that eighth pick in the draft and try to get another Quarterback of the Future. I've rethought my previous blog, and I'm not so sure the Panthers will want to draft a quarterback with the first pick, as they recently (see, last year) invested a rather high pick on Jimmy Clausen. So, that may open up the Titans (the second through seventh positions, respectively, belong to Denver, Buffalo, Cincinnati, Arizona, Cleveland, and San Francisco) to a good QB pickup (or a trade for the fifth or seventh spot, leading to said QB pickup) such as Ryan Mallett (should Carolina pass him up), Andrew Luck (same), Jake Locker (although, with two PAC-10 QBs in the same draft, one of them's gotta be a bust) or Cam Newton. I'm not a big fan of Newton's NFL prospects, but I've rethought my opinion on Luck after that Orange Bowl.

Of course, I'd rather we spend our high draft pick on a linebacker, but there really aren't that many LBs talented enough to be a top-10 pick. I say that with hesitation, there is almost always a defensive player taken high that no one could see coming (see recently: Jerod Mayo, Tyson Alualu). All I know is it will be an incredibly interesting offseason in Nashville. We'll see what happens.

With the first pick in the 2011 NFL Draft, the Carolina Panthers will pick...Ryan Mallett?!?

With their loss to the Pittsburgh Steelers on Thursday, coupled with wins by Cincinnati and Denver, the Carolina Panthers have clinched the first pick in the 2011 NFL Draft. That means it's only a matter of a few months before Andrew Luck is on stage, holding a #1 Carolina Panthers jersey. But wait! We take a page out of the history book, and go thirteen years back in time to the once-lowly Indianapolis Colts.

Indy and San Diego were both teams in need of quarterbacks in this fateful year of 1998. Two finalists in the Heisman Trophy vote won by Michigan's Charles Woodson (the first and only defensive player to win the award) were incredibly talented quarterbacks. Peyton Manning, the frontrunner for the Heisman Trophy that year, was the son of a former NFL quarterback, Archie (and the brother of future QB Eli), and a stud from the orange and white of the University of Tennessee. Ryan Leaf, who finished third in the voting, was a incredibly talented prospect out of Washington State University. Peyton, after famously telling the Colts, "if you don't pick me, I'm gonna whoop your butt for the next fifteen years," was selected first overall and to date has won a record four NFL MVP awards and been to two Super Bowls, winning MVP honors in Super Bowl XLI. Ryan Leaf, on the other hand, was drafted second by the Bolts and was tossed around the league for four years before calling it quits (and kindly asking that you don't talk to him, alright?).

Fast forwarding to the present. Two quarterbacks with huge NFL potential are in the market (and I'm not talking about Cameron "Scam" Newton, he's an entirely different story). One of them didn't make Heisman waves after his team finished with an under-the-radar two-loss season, the other finished second in Heisman voting. The first, Ryan Mallett, led the Arkansas Razorbacks to a 10-2 record, finishing second in the SEC West and earning a Sugar Bowl berth. Andrew Luck, the guy most predict to go first, led his Stanford Cardinal to an 11-1 mark, a second-place finish in the Pac-10, and a spot in the Orange Bowl.

So why do I think the Panthers should take Mallett?

For starters, look at the last names. Luck and Leaf. Mallett and Manning. Similar, no? Plus, like Mr. Leaf, Andrew went to a west-coast school, while Mallett and Mr. Manning both went to schools in the Southeast Conference. I've always liked Ryan Mallett as a pro prospect. More than anything, I've just got a gut feeling Ryan Mallett will make a better NFL quarterback than Andrew Luck.

Which brings us to the question, if Mallett is drafted first, how far will Andrew Luck fall?

Looking at the likely draft order as of now, neither of the next three teams (Denver, Cincinnati, and Buffalo, all 4-11) look like they would bite at a QB. The Broncos traded up to get Timmy T. in the first round last year, and unless the new coaching staff wants to make a big splash and rearrange the whole Denver team (again), there is no way they'd go for Luck. The Bengals' Carson Palmer, with a good coach, should have several more good years ahead of him, so unless they want QB insurance, Cincy will likely pass on a high-ranked QB like Luck. Buffalo seems to think it's found its quarterback of the future in Ryan Fitzpatrick, but a potential 4-12 season might rearrange the Bills' draft thoughts.

But that's a big MIGHT.

Anyhue, should Denver, Cincy, and Buffalo all shockingly upset their opponents (San Diego, Baltimore, and the Jets, respectively), that opens up a realm of 5-win teams that might get the second pick in the 2011 draft....namely Dallas, Minnesota, Detroit (only one of the previous two would potentially finish the season with 5 wins, they face each other next week), San Francisco, Arizona (same scenario with these two), Cleveland, and Houston. Of these teams, only Arizona do I see in dire need of a new quarterback. However, Minnesota and San Fran might get giddy with the prospect of Luck and take him with their selections (the Vikings faced with the return of unproven starter Tavaris Jackson, and the newly coachless 49ers switching between Smiths). Houston might be looking for a big change after a disappointing season, but they have a Pro-Bowl caliber QB in Matt Schaub that they would be foolish to get rid of. The Cowboys are safe for another five to seven years with Tony Romo as long as he doesn't get injured again. The Lions and Browns have their quarterbacks of the future in Matt Stafford and Colt McCoy, respectively.

Let's take another trip back in time, this time to the 2005 draft. The two highly-touted prospects were Cal's Aaron Rodgers and Utah's Alex Smith. Smith ended up drafted first overall by the 49ers, and no other team snapped at a QB until the Packers with the 24th pick took Rodgers. A-Rod, as I fondly refer to him, is a Pro Bowl quarterback who took over in 2008 after Brett Favre's second(?) retirement, while Alex Smith, as I not so fondly refer to him, has fought for the starting job in San Fran ever since being drafted, and should be let go by the team if their new coaching is right in the head.

Back to the present, if Arizona doesn't take a stab at Luck in the first ten picks of the draft, and no one trades up to get him, the next logical team I see that would like to sign him to a deal is Seattle, a west-coast team in need of a quarterback as it is likely Matt Hasselbeck's last year at the helm there. The only question is if the Seahawks will have the 12th pick, or the 21st, as they'll either finish 6-10 without a playoff berth, or 7-9 and losing in the wild card round.

Apart from 'Zona and Seattle, there's not a team with a real quarterback need in this year's draft. Sure, there's a half dozen or so that would probably take a chance at drafting Andrew Luck. I see Minnesota, San Francisco, Miami, Jacksonville, Tennessee, Oakland as teams with QB struggles, but realistically, only SanFran of the six do I think would waste a first-rounder on a guy like Luck. If Al Davis wasn't dead (which he is, how else do you explain that Oakland was in some playoff talks as late as two weeks ago?), I would say the Raiders would go at a big name like Andrew Luck, but now are different times.

So, while it won't be exactly like 1998 (or really at all like it), I still think the Panthers should go with the choice from the SEC, and leave the West-Coast favorite to bust elsewhere.

I feel like I should blog again some more.

I think I need to catch you up on my life, and all its many twists and turns.

Number one: College. Many of my younger viewers may ask, "Why, Clayton, how's college?" Of course, now I think about it, many of my older viewers and viewers within my peer group may be wondering the same thing. And my answer to you is: College is great! Here's a flash of my typical Samford week:

Sunday: Wake up, 8:30ish. Why I am up this early after likely staying up until one or two reading Harry Potter or watching college football highlights is beyond me. There is a knock on the door and there is a friend who I arranged to take me to church. The church in question is massive, as are many of the Baptist churches around Birmingham. The service was nothing remarkable, and then was Sunday School. I have not attended a Sunday School session outside of HFUMC since, oh I don't know, eight or ten years ago, probably. It was a very enjoyable experience, I think I might go back just for the Sunday School hour sometime. Arrive back on campus around 12:30, grab some lunch in the caf, then back to the room for an afternoon of NFL football. That's basically what Sunday consists of every week. Lots of football. Then to sleep for class.

Monday: My first class, JMC 200, begins at 10:30. I wake up at about 9 or 9:15, hop in the shower, head to the food court for a chick-fil-a biscuit breakfast, and head on over to class. Take some notes, fight some sleep, and then to Latin. Much of the same, although instead of the "take some notes" part, it's more "try to figure out what in the heck this thing means". Latin ends at 12:50, and that's class on Monday. After Latin, I hit up the caf for lunch, and head back to the room. Once back in the room, I open facebook (which will remain open long into the night), check emails, and get whatever work I have to get done. Today I'll get all my laundry done. I'm thirsty, so I walk to the mini-fridge and pull out a can of Canada Dry Ginger Ale. On this particular Monday afternoon, I pull up the 104.5 The Zone radio broadcast online, because Randy Moss is holding his first media meeting as a Tennessee Titan. I listen to 3hourlunch until 3, and then turn on the TV to NFLNetwork. I throw on my freshly-laundered band t-shirt, a pair of socks, and some tennis shoes, and head over to the band room. I then catch a ride to the gym because I'm playing for the basketball game. I play some music, shout a lot, and eat some pizza. Four hours later, I go back to the room, where I'll play on the computer, watch TV, and do some reading until I fall asleep at about midnight.

On Tuesday, I have one class. However, I am determined to make Convo this morning, even if I sleep through it. I get a can of lemonade from the room, and a chicken biscuit from the food court (I'm trying hard to cut down on my Bulldog Buck spending, I'm fast running out from my Chick-fil-A consumption), and head over to Reid Chapel for the Convocation. Today's convo speaker was surprisingly interesting, a United Methodist clergywoman and yet another great storyteller. Having not gotten my nap or the last four pages of Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban in, I go to my Tuesday/Thursday class, CP. I get that essay back that I slaved over on the previous Wednesday night. "This is surprisingly well-written," I find Dr. Putt has written on it. "First semester freshmen usually do not write this well. I even suspected plagiarism at first because it is so clearly written! Excellent work!" This brightens up my day immensely, even more than my first convo credit in two or more weeks did. I take about a page-full of notes about Gothic architecture and culture, and then we get out of class at around noon or 12:15. I head straight to the caf for lunch this day, and then after chilling back in the room for a couple of hours, go to band practice. It's our first Christmas band practice, and as I note to the facebook world, "I am fully aware of the irony of the fact that we're practicing Christmas music, and I'm wearing a tshirt and flip flops." The music is different, and moderately challenging. After dinner, I come back to the room, and Patrick is watching the new 30 for 30 film on ESPN about former superstar running back Marcus Dupree. It's a nice little piece, and I enjoyed it. After that, I make sure everything's ready for my Wednesday classes, read some Harry Potter, and go to sleep.

Wednesday is the day I buy my Harry Potter tickets. There's some finagling with Fandango, but eventually everything works out and I'm ready to go. Both of my Wendesday classes included getting tests back. My JMC grade, though not stellar, is still a solid B, which I will take. In Latin, I was expecting bad things from the test, but I end up earning a similar B. While in Latin, unbeknownst to me, there is a bit of a flash-mob rave dance in the caf in order to advertise tomorrow night's freshman class rave. Sadly, I miss it. After lunch, I head to the library to put in a couple hours of work-study time. In the end, I am not able to continue, and I end up staying for only an hour and a quarter. Dinner is yet another caf affair, and I return to the room with just enough time to watch yesterday's episodes of both Glee and NCIS. After my hour and a half of online TV dosage, I head to my small group meeting. It's a particularly good group meeting for me, and I do a little more reading before I go to sleep.

Thursday is a triumphant morning. For the first time in over a month, I am able to wake up in time to get to the caf for breakfast! I also make it to Convo, which is a very nap-worthy lecture about the church in China. Perhaps it goes too long, for I am still in a lethargic state when CP rolls around. The Renaissance is the topic of this class, and it goes until about 12:10, I think. I go back to the room for a 30-minute power nap (haven't had a good one of those in a while, either...) and then lunch in the caf. An hour and a half after I get done with lunch, and it's band practice time again. I'm not really feeling too well during practice, but I manage, and suffer through a small dinner just to keep my appetite regular. By the time I get ready to go to the aforementioned rave, I'm feeling much better and ready for a fun night of dancing. Well, except for the fact that after about forty-five minutes of constant jumping and moving, etc, I felt like my lungs were about to explode, so I headed back to the dorm for a couple puffs of the asthma inhaler and I was generally back to normal. Great dance, then I feel like staying up even later to get in some Harry Potter reading. I decide that I'm not even going to eat breakfast Friday morning, as I only have one one-hour class that day. I go to sleep, exhausted from an exciting day.

On Friday, I stumble out of bed a little before ten, take a shower, and find my way to my JMC class. It's a nice lesson about cable, I jot down a few key points, and class ends. I head to the caf, and have about an hour-and-a-half long lunch (not so much eating as the social aspect of lunch in the caf). After lunch, I spend a while in the room, before choosing to throw in a little bit of work-study in the library before it closes at 5. After I finish in the library, I run into Corey and Clayton playing frisbee. I play with them for a while, and then we all three head up to the caf for dinner. There we meet the likes of Patrick and Josiah, and after a nice evening meal, we decide to head up to the volleyball game, Senior night, at the gym. We are joined by Jamieson and Red Sea points leader Throck (it's a nickname, his last name's Throckmorton). We watch the volleyball girls fall to Georgia Southern 3 sets to 1, but in a valiant effort nonetheless. Some fingerfoods follow, and then Patrick and I so choose to head back to the room and chill for the rest of the night. I find myself, once again, in the midst of a very good Harry Potter Book (Goblet of Fire, which I've been working on the majority of the week) before going to bed once again.

Saturday gets a late start from me. I wake up shortly before 11, shower, watch some college football, and then head to the caf for brunch. There are some conspiracies regarding a birthday party, and I head back to the room. Corey comes in, I end up taking a run to Taco Bell with him and Zach. After we get back and while we are consuming our Taco Bell, Jamieson enters, detailing us about a certain prank to go down. I spend a large part of my afternoon on that effort after my weekly phone call to the parentals. After dinner, I anxiously await the next step of the prank, but we are foiled by someone close to a victim. I have a nice facebook conversation with this un-named source, and find myself compromised somewhat in the war of pranks that is happening throughout Samford. I suppose it feels a little like when countries entered the World Wars a while after they started. I await my just rewards. Meanwhile, I watch the fourth Harry Potter movie, and end up having to stop after a while, because it is so horrendous. I then watch the South Carolina-Florida and Alabama-Mississippi State games before catching the ridiculously awful ending of the fourth Harry Potter movie. Around this point, Patrick returns from the dorm lobby, and we watch SNL and some football and basketball highlights before he calls it a night and I turn to this, my blog.

Well, that's a sample week. Now that you know that, I'll just go on about some trivial stuff...

1. CUPCAKES. And I'm not talking about that thing that looks like a muffin but is much better. I'm talking about teams, like Louisiana-Monroe, like Georgia State, like the University of freaking Notre Dame, that college football teams play two, three, seven games against each season. Those ones that scream "easy win, let's get in here, play a little ball, throw our bench in, and get the hell out of here" on the schedule. It disgusts me. Every team in the SEC has played at least three, and while I'm a big fan of the SEC, I think they need to play easy-win teams that are a little more competitive by name, like Big Ten and ACC schools. Those of you that have been following all my crazy facebook action know my obsession with cupcakes and their complete lack of benefit.

2. We've got Randy freaking Moss!!!! Thats right, boys and girls, Randy's a Titan. Get excited, it's going to be a great ride in Nashville for the second half of the season, and--dare I say it?--playoffs?!?

3. Oh, I gots me a youtube channel now! You can find me at http://www.youtube.com/user/churdle76. I may or may not eventually be posting videos, but it's really just a thing for me to use for comments or liking videos or stuff like that.

4. And I've also gots me a tweeter!! Although I myself am not a twit, and do not tweet, I felt like I should get a twitty-thing to follow some other twits that like tweeting. So if you want me to add you to my followees, tweet me up @churdle76. If you want to add yourself to my followers (or, as I prefer, twitstalkers), just do whatever you do to follow a twitty type by searching the same tweetie-name.

5. What else, what else? Oh, I'm annoyed by Christmas coming before and above Thanksgiving again, I'm in the middle of a little No-Shave November action, and I get some more money in the bank this week. Also, my midseason NFL Picks are as thus: Titans, Texans, Colts, Jaguars AFC South; Steelers, Ravens, Browns, Bengals AFC North; Chiefs, Chargers, Raiders, Broncos AFC West; Jets, Patriots, Dolphins, Bills AFC East; Falcons, Saints, Bucs, Panthers NFC South; Packers, Vikings, Bears, Lions NFC North; Rams, Seahawks, Cardinals, Niners NFC West; Giants, Eagles, Redskins, Cowboys, NFC East. Playoff seedings will be Jets, Steelers, Titans, Chiefs, Ravens, Texans in the AFC; Giants, Falcons, Packers, Rams, Eagles, Saints in the NFC. Wild Card games: Titans over Texans, Ravens over Chiefs, Packers over Saints, Eagles over Rams. Divisional games: Ravens over Jets, Titans over Steelers, Eagles over Giants, Packers over Falcons. Conference championships: Ravens over Titans (you don't know how much it hurts me to say that), Eagles over Packers. To keep to my original pick of Super Bowl Champion, Ravens over Eagles.

Oh, last but not least, congrats to the San Francisco Giants for bringing home the World Series championship for the first time since your west coast move over fifty years ago.

That's it for now, folks, I'll be back with more action sometime later.

-clayton

NFL PREVIEW 2010!!!!!

It's football time again, which means it's time for me to throw out how I think everyone's going to do this season. You might find a surprise or two, let me know what you think's gonna happen!

We'll start off with divisional records and standings.

AFC East

Jets- 12-4

Patriots (WC)- 11-5

Dolphins- 10-6

Bills 5-11

The Revis Holdout ended last night, so the J-E-T-S-JETS-JETS-JETS are going to be your favorites in the division. Watch out for the Pats though, they've still got it. Miami and their Wildcat offense will contend as well. The Bills have a rough rebuilding year ahead of them.

AFC North

Ravens- 12-4

Bengals- 10-6

Steelers- 10-6

Browns- 4-12

The Ochocinco-T.O. marriage works well in Cincy, but not well enough. They miss the playoffs by a tiebreaker, and the Ravens win the division easily. The Steelers struggle early without Roethlisberger, but will make a push as the season progresses. Cleveland has a very tough schedule; they'll play competitively, but will fall short often. I say they're among the best sub-.500 teams in the NFL.

AFC South

Colts- 12-4

Texans (WC)- 10-6

Titans- 10-6

Jaguars- 6-10

The Colts continue dominating this division, as Houston makes its first ever playoff berth. The Titans play well, but fall short against Jacksonville, giving the Texans the tiebreaker they need to claim second in the division. The Jaguars, after another disappointing season, fire Coach Del Rio and begin to think more seriously about relocating.

AFC West

Chargers- 10-6

Broncos- 7-9

Chiefs- 4-12

Raiders- 4-12

There have been some great Chargers, Broncos, and Raiders teams to come out of this division, but as of late, it's been one of the worst divisions in pro football. San Diego gets the top spot in the West, and Denver continues to rebuild (Don't worry, Broncos fans, they'll be back within the next couple of seasons). The Chiefs have another bad year, and the Raiders, trying to regain some dignity, falter in a big way. Cable gets fired, and Al Davis will decide to go back into coaching. Not a good move.

In the AFC playoffs, the standings will look as such.

Colts

Jets

Ravens

Chargers

Patriots

Texans

In the wild card round, Houston will show how inexperienced they are in the postseason as they get clobbered by a very good Ravens team in Baltimore. The Patriots will be just too much for the Chargers, and they come out of SD with another big W.

In the divisional playoffs, the Ravens will take on the Jets in a defensive showdown. Ed Reed will provide scoring for Baltimore as they pull off a 7-6 victory in New York. In what could be the final chapter of a storied rivalry from over the past decade, Peyton Manning will find enough to get past the Pats once more.

The conference championship will feature Baltimore, who lost the game in the 2008 season, and Indianapolis, who made it to the Super Bowl last year. Of course, any time Baltimore faces the Colts, it's the entire city that opposes Indy. Peyton will be retiring within the next five years, and he'll want as many rings to his name as he possibly can. Ray Lewis will most likely call it quits at the end of this season, and he wants to go out on top. What fun those two will be, reliving old memories and making a couple new ones as they try to make it to the biggest stage in sports. The Ravens will prevail and be crowned AFC champions.

Now, to the NFC.

NFC East

Cowboys- 12-4

Redskins (WC)- 11-5

Eagles- 10-6

Giants- 8-8

The NFC East is not just the toughest division in the NFL, it is arguably the best in all of pro sports. Dallas is gearing up for a Super Bowl in its home stadium, while Donovan McNabb, Mike Shanahan, and the Redskins all make a resurgence. The Eagles have a good season, and the Giants struggle, but still do better than many second- and third-place teams in other divisions.

NFC North

Packers- 11-5

Vikings- 10-6

Lions- 4-12

Bears- 2-14

Brett Favre will come back should there be football in 2011. Because he won't even make it to the playoffs. The Pack will get this division, and Aaron Rodgers will win MVP honors. Meanwhile, the Lions will continue their rebuilding, and the Bears will have the most atrocious season in the NFL this year.

NFC South

New Orleans 12-4

Atlanta 12-4

Tampa 5-11

Carolina 3-13

Bye-bye, John Fox! Panthers will have a tough year, but they'll play well through it. Just not well enough to matter. Tampa continues to rebuild, and there's a battle for the top. New Orleans will repeat as division champs.

NFC West

San Francisco- 11-5

Arizona- 8-8

Seattle- 6-10

St. Louis- 3-13

A new group of a familiar team will get to the top of the West for the first time since 2002. The Cardinals will have struggles with a new QB, Seattle will be on the rise, but won't keep Hasselbeck when he becomes a free agent at the end of the season (Look for Mike Holmgren and Cleveland to pick him up). The Rams will struggle, but will do a little better than last year.

And now, my NFC playoff picks.

Homefield throughout, including potentially the Super Bowl, Dallas- 12-4

New Orleans- 12-4

Green Bay- 11-5

San Francisco- 11-5

Atlanta- 12-4

Washington- 11-5

In the wild card round, we see Mike Shanahan and Donovan McNabb traveling to a possibly snowy Lambeau Field to take on NFL MVP Aaron Rodgers and the Packers. I think the Packers will pull out of this one with the insanely close W. It'll be a incredibly fun game to watch.

Atlanta and San Francisco- I am a HUGE Mike Singletary fan, but Matt Ryan and the Falcons have been through the playoff ringer before, and most of Singletary's players have not. So I'm giving the edge to Atlanta on the road in this one.

Divisional round: Green Bay will visit New Orleans, and this year's NFL MVP will face the reigning Super Bowl MVP. This game will also be entertaining. The All-Pro foot of Mason Crosby will send the Packers into the NFC title game.

In Dallas, the top-seeded 'Boys will be put to the test by the 2010 version of the Dirty Birds. Just thinking about this matchup has one remembering (as well as one can remember not actually remembering for him or herself, being quite young at the time) the early 90s when these teams were both in NFC prominence. It'll be fun, but Dallas will advance with not much problem.

The NFC Chamionship game will be magnificent football. I don't think I've been more excited about the NFC ever. I can't even begin to analyze this one, or it'll take me forever to come to a conclusion. So I'll just say Dallas. Get it over with. They'll play the first legitimate home Super Bowl game.

In Super Bowl XLV, the Baltimore Ravens will travel to Dallas to face a blue-and-white washout crowd of 100,000 or more. Oh yeah, and the Cowboys. It will be the most one-sided NFL Championship, spectator-wise, in the history of the Super Bowl. But are you ready for this? The 2010 World Champions will be the Baltimore Ravens who will win by a score of 24-16. Ed Reed will intercept two passes, returning one for a touchdown, and be named the Most Valuable Player of the game. Ray Lewis will retire on top, much like Jerome Bettis five years ago.

This being said, prepare for me to be a HUGE Aaron Rodgers, Packers, Texans, Ravens, and Cowboys fan this year (Although, naturally, not quite as much as I like the Titans)

Comments? Fears, doubts, concerns? Got your own bold predictions? Or maybe you want to join my prognostication mailing list. If any of the aforementioned apply to you, leave me a comment, right down there vvvvv

-c

"Can you teach me how to dance real slow?"

Football isn't really slow, now, is it?

NFL picks are coming up, with our first one being Saturday's prognostication for the August 8 hall of fame game.

I'll be posting weekly blogs up, as well as emails to those I know and ask for them. Keep tuned.

Preseason weeks, while I'm getting back in the flow (it's been a season or so since I've done picks), will be one division from each conference (most likely do North one week, South another, etc). I'll do every regular season game though, and all of the postseason.

Get ready for some FOOTBALL!!!!

hmmm...well I said I'd be getting back to this...

Oh well, a lot's gone on in the past two months.

First, I graduated (yay). That was pretty sweet.

The birds flew the coop within about two weeks. But it was fun watching them while they were here.

Chicago won the Stanley Cup, and nobody cared.

Christopher was in Grease, and did a phenomenal job.

VY got in a bit of an altercation while I was at Orientation. And CJ still needs to sign a contract.

The college football world began a conference shakeup, with Nebraska going to the Big Ten, and the Pac-10 taking away Colorado. Now the Big ten has 12, and the Big 12 has ten...confusing.

Choir tour was absolutely Gleeful and amazing. Will never forget the experience, or the new TV musical comedy addiction.

Went to an Astros-Giant game. Tim Lincecum beat Roy Oswalt in a 3-1 pitchers' duel.

I got texting. Pretty sweet.

LA won the NBA championship again. They beat my Celtics in a very intense series.

The Red Sox got over their April slump and are looking at the AL Wild Card spot if the season ended today.

Lebron James signed with the Heat. Hmmm...about time for football season, right?

Just got done with VBS. Great week, good fun.

Also, the fam is doing well with our flood recovery downstairs renovation.

I'll blog separately about a couple of these.

Get ready, cause here we go.

-cth

PLAYOFF TIME!

Before I get started with the playoffs, I need to point out a few things.













Here's the story of a man named Cam Cameron. You may remember Coach Cameron when he was the head coach of the Miami Dolphins in 2007. Well, the Dolphins went 1-15, hired Bill Parcells as their president, and fired Cam Cameron. The one team that lost to Miami, the Baltimore Ravens, hired Mr. Cameron as their offensive coordinator. Since then, the Ravens and Cameron are 22-13, including an appearance in the AFC Championship last year, and headed to the playoffs again. The Dolphins, meanwhile, are sitting at home this offseason with an 18-15 record in two years, and a one-and-done playoff run last year. At this point, it appears that Cam Cameron got the better end of getting fired.

While I'm on the topic of the Fishes, it makes me feel better that rookie QB Pat White will not sustain any permanent damage after a head-to-head collision left him motionless on Sunday. He was down forever, and it really worried me.

Jim Zorn's been out since October, so it didn't surprise me at all when I saw he was fired. Next came the entire coaching staff of the Buffalo Bills, which came as a very small shock. Tom Cable will be next according to speculations, which I didn't think wouldn't happen. Next to go will be Jack Del Rio with the Jags. I haven't heard much about him yet, but after two playoff berths, the Swamp Cats have gone 5-11 and 7-9 consecutively, including dropping their last four. They're blacking out all of their games, so something needs to change. First to go is Del Rio, and they'll be the first team to draft a QB this year. I think Lovie Smith is safe in Chicago right now, but if they don't get to the postseason next year, there will be a change in the Winds. Lastly, Eric Mangini will stay at Cleveland. With a 4-0 finish, including wins over Pittsburgh and Jacksonville, and Mike Holmgren, one of the more respectable men in football, as their President, the Browns will keep the former Patriot DC for the time being.

Alright, off of the coaching carousel and on to a more important subject....THE PLAYOFFS!!!!!

Here are the seedings:

AFC
1. Indy 14-2
2. San Diego 13-3
3. New England 10-6
4. Cincy 10-6
5. J-E-T-S-JETS-JETS-JETS 9-7
6. Baltimore 9-7

NFC
1. New Orleans is 13-3 after dropping 3 straight
2. Minnesota rebounded big against the Giants, they are now 12-4
3. Dallas crushed Philly and is 11-5
4. Arizona 10-6
5. Green Bay 11-5
6. Philly 11-5

So, here's the situation. Wild Card weekend. Four games will be played on the 9th and 10th, all of them rematches of the regular season. 3 of those four were played just last week. 2 of those 3 were meaningless for at least one team, and 1 was not meaningful for either team. That being said, it appears that New England, the J-E-T-S-JETS-JETS-JETS, Green Bay and Dallas will advance if each game turns out how it did in the regular season. I've got different ideas, though.

J-E-T-S-JETS-JETS-JETS AT CINCINNATI (Saturday 1/9, 4:30 ET)
I've become a bandwagon Bengals fan this season, so the fact that they were shut out against the J-E-T-S-JETS-JETS-JETS surprises me. The Bengals are my emotional favorite to win it all, having to deal with the deaths of Mike Zimmer's wife and Chris Henry. They have a test against a J-E-T-S-JETS-JETS-JETS team that has won five of its last six, including the last two against playoff teams (granted, the Colts would've won had they not rested their starters), under Rex Ryan, of whom I am also a big fan. To Cincy's advantage, they will have a home game this time, and they know what to expect of the J-E-T-S-JETS-JETS-JETS coming into this week. To their disadvantage, Chad Ochocinco might not play due to a knee injury he sustained in pregame warmups Sunday night. He's a big leader of the team, and his abscence may cause for another devastating Bengals loss. Cincinnati's last playoff win came in 1991, two decades ago. The J-E-T-S-JETS-JETS-JETS won the only postseason matchup of the two teams. Putting together all of that, plus much more, I've decided on a score: J-E-T-S-JETS-JETS-JETS 28-16.

PHILADELPHIA AT DALLAS (Saturday 1/9, 8 ET)
Well, Dallas absolutely crash landed the Eagles' hope for a first-round bye and a home game in the playoffs with a 24-0 victory. I have no reason to suspect that this result will be repeated. Firstly, Andy Reid is an absolute wizard of a coach. You don't have a career record above .600 after 11 years for nothing. He is also very experienced in the playoffs, with a 10-7 record entering his 18th postseason game. On the other sideline, Wade Phillips is also a good coach. However, in four tries, he has come up 0-fer in the playoffs. The Eagles are a traditionally good playoff team, making it to 5 NFC Championships and 1 Super Bowl in the past decade. They made a sixth-seed run to the Championship last year, and they're right back where they were to begin last postseason. I can't pick against the Eagles in the first round, nor can I pick for the Cowboys in the postseason. Therefore, my prediction is: Eagles, 34-17.

BALTIMORE AT NEW ENGLAND (Sunday 1/10, 1 ET)
This one will be fun. The regular-season edition of this game happened all the way back in Week 4, with the Patriots coming out on top, defeating the previously undefeated Ravens 27-21. Bill Belichick (15-4 in 14 seasons) and John Harbaugh (2-1 in 1) are two good playoff coaches. Bill is 3-1 in the Super Bowl, and John made it to the AFC Championship as a sixth seed last year. This will be the first postseason matchup between the winningest active NFL coach (not counting Bill Cowher or Mike Shanahan, who might each come out of retirement next season) and one of the game's newer greats. The Patriots have never lost their first playoff game since Coach Belichick and Tom Brady took over, but they will be missing their #1 receiver in Wes Welker. Baltimore won a convincing game against then 6-0 Denver in Week 8 and blew out the Lions 48-3 in Week 14, but lost a possible Super Bowl preview against Green Bay by double digits in Week 13, and only beat Oakland by 8 last week. Ray Lewis is getting ever closer to retirement, and would love to go out on top, so he'll have a monster game. And probably talk a little trash during the week. I really think the Ravens have more to play for here than the Patriots, so I really am leaning their way. But it will be close. Here's what I think: Ravens, 16-13

GREEN BAY AT ARIZONA (4:40 ET Sunday 1/10)
Ken Wisenhunt led the Cards to the Super Bowl last year, but Green Bay is rolling. They were 7-1 in the last half of the season, their only loss being that shootout against Pittsburgh. In the entire season, the Pack only scored less than 20 points once, against the eventual NFC East champs. They beat Dallas 17-7 in Week 10, which turned around their season. In their seven second-half wins, they won 5 by 10 or more. Arizona will play closer than they did on Sunday, but they'll still get blown away. We'll say: Packers, 27-14.

Now that the Wild Card has been decided, here's our playoff picture.

AFC
1. Indy 14-2
2. San Diego 13-3
X3. New England 10-7X
X4. Cincinnati 10-7X
5. J-E-T-S-JETS-JETS-JETS 10-7
6. Baltimore 10-7

NFC
1. New Orleans 13-3
2. Minnesota 12-4
X3. Dallas loses 5 straight playoff games, 11-6X
X4. Arizona 10-7X
5. Green Bay 12-5
6. Philadelphia 12-5

In the divisional round, resilient Baltimore travels to Indianapolis to face the battered Colts, who are much thankful for a home game. The J-E-T-S-JETS-JETS-JETS travel to sunny San Diego for a showdown with the hottest team in the NFL. The hottest team in the NFC, Green Bay, takes a trip to the Vikings, who closed out the regular season with a convincing spanking of the NY Giants. Philadelphia travels to the Superdome to confront a Saints team which hasn't won in over a month. The winners of these games are guaranteed picks 29-32 in the first round of this April's draft, and advance to the conference championships. Let's continue with the matchups at hand here.

PHILADELPHIA AT NEW ORLEANS (4:30 ET Saturday 1/16)
After dominating Dallas, the Eagles face a tough task in Drew Brees and the Saints. New Orleans started the season 13-0. Only problem is, they've lost 3 straight. That does a number to momentum headed into the playoffs. On top of that, they've had a first-round bye to extend the length of time since their last win, December 13 at Atlanta (Not to mention that game was 26-23. It took them overtime the week before to defeat a Washington team that finished 4-12. So really, the last time the Saints really looked like the Saints was that 38-17 win over the Patriots in November). They have some very important questions to answer in this game, and if they pull off a victory, especially by more than a touchdown, they'll be my favorite to win it all. But this is a very good Eagles team which is underestimated year after year. I have a hard time picking against them before the NFC Championship. As the Saints are really unproven in the playoffs (1-1 when they made it in 2006, losing to Chicago in the NFC Championship), and certainly not in the position they are in now, I'm not sure what to say. Ironically, their first game was a divisional matchup against the Eagles. Not much has changed with the two teams, except for some more explosiveness from both teams. The 2007 playoff game was a 27-24 Saints win. I can't see this matchup ending the same way it did last time, though. Not having a convincing win in a month and a half does something to the persona of a team. Therefore, I say: Eagles, 37-28.









BALTIMORE AT INDIANAPOLIS (8:15 ET Saturday 1/16)


This will be another good matchup of two really good teams. The Ravens will be working on getting to their second straight AFC Championship, and the Colts are out to prove that 14-0 wasn't a fluke. The Colts will be more than glad to be playing at the RCA...excuse me, at Lucas Oil Stadium after that horrendous snow game in Buffalo. The Ravens have momentum after shocking the world and the New England Patriots on the road in what might easily be another snow game. I have yet to know how Jim Caldwell will do in the postseason, but Peyton Manning is a game-changer. If Ray Lewis keeps him in check, the Ravens will have a chance. Nevertheless, I think Indianapolis will come away with the win in front of the home crowd, indoors, with no snow: Colts, 26-17.







GREEN BAY AT MINNESOTA (1 ET Sunday 1/17)



The Favre Purple Show swept the regular season series between the two teams, but Green Bay is, as I mentioned earlier, the hottest team in the Conference. I think Brett might be thrown a little that he's playing playoff football in a dome against the Pack, but after his first interception he'll be brought back to reality. Aaron Rodgers is becoming if not an elite quarterback, a pretty good one and will keep the Green Bay offense competing. Adrian Peterson definitely has the edge over Ryan Grant, although both are good running backs. With Rookie of the Year Percy Harvin, Sidney Rice, and Bernard Berrian, the Vikes have a solid receiving corps, and Jordy Nelson, Donald Driver, and Greg Jennings form another solid corps for the Pack. At tight end, Donald Lee and Visanthe Shiancoe are both forces to be reckoned with, and Mason Crosby and Ryan Longwell are two of the top kickers in the leauge. I'll give Green Bay the slight edge on defense, and Minnesota the homefield advantage (duh). Basically, coaching is the only thing in question. Mike McCarthy is slightly better than Brad Childress (39-27 vs. 36-29), and is 1-1 in the playoffs (2-1 with the win over Arizona) while Childress is 0-1. We'll have an offensive showdown here, with the win coming in the final seconds. After expert advice gives me the edge on kicker, I'll have to say: Packers, 37-34.







J-E-T-S-JETS-JETS-JETS AT SAN DIEGO (4:40 ET Sunday 1/17)



This would've been a big game if Cincy had beaten the J-E-T-S-JETS-JETS-JETS. Now, though, it'll be a crushing defeat by San Diego. This team scared me when it came to Nashville on Christmas night. It'll scare plenty more before it's done. The J-E-T-S-JETS-JETS-JETS have no match for the modern generation of Air Coryell, and Rivers and the dominant offense of San Diego will prevail over a young team from New York. Final Score: Chargers, 34-13.

As we move on to the championship round, here's what's left.

AFC
Indy rebounds and is 15-2
San Diego dominates, 14-3
XXNew England 10-7XX
XXCincy 10-7XX
XJ-E-T-S-JETS-JETS-JETS 10-8X
XBaltimore 10-8X

NFC
XNew Orleans blows another one, 13-4X
XMinnesota can't hold on, 12-5X
XXDallas 11-6XX
XXArizona 10-7XX
Green Bay has the golden toe, 13-5
Philly keeps going, 13-5

So, we approach a 1-2 finale in the AFC, and a 5-6 battle of the wild in the NFC. All attention is focused in the Midwest for these two games. Let's go.

AFC CHAMPIONSHIP: SAN DIEGO AT INDIANAPOLIS (3 ET Sunday 1/24)
This one's a showdown the media's been wanting since early November. Is San Diego really the best team in the AFC? I didn't believe it until the Titans game. The Chargers will be riding a 12-game win streak into this game, and the young secondary of the Colts will have a hard time matching up with Vincent Jackson, Antonio Gates, and the entire receiving squad of the San Diego Chargers. Norv Turner's been coaching this game much longer than rookie Jim Caldwell of the Colts. For all these reasons and more, my pick is: Chargers, 27-23.





NFC CHAMPIONSHIP: PHILADELPHIA AT GREEN BAY (6:40 ET Sunday 1/24)

The battle of two teams a game away from winning their respective divisions commences Sunday evening at Lambeau field. The Eagles and Packers are two very good clubs, and this game will be fun. The Eagles are looking for their second Super Bowl appearance ever, and under Reid and Donovan McNabb. The Pack, meanwhile, are looking to be one of nine teams to appear in five or more Super Bowls. The first team you think of when the words "Super Bowl" come to mind hosts a consistent contender for the past decade. The explosive offense of McNabb, DESEAN JACKSON, and the Eagles will go up against the fundamental game played by Rodgers, Grant, Clay Matthews, and the Packers. The Pack will play a tough, physical game, and Philly will stay plenty competitive. In the end, DeSean will lift the Eagles to heights only attained once before. It'll be a nail-biter, but the team that will come on top is: Eagles, 42-35.

Before Super Bowl XLIV (It is XLIV, not 44. stupid arabians and their simplified numerals.) an incredibly important (or rather ignorable idiotc) event has to occur pitting the statistical leaders of the NFL against each other. This is so much better the week after the Super Bowl. For instance, DeSean won't be playing so he doesn't have to risk injury before the Big Game. I was looking forward to seeing him playing around and killing some coverages in the meaningless allstar game, but since he has to play in the biggest game of his career the next week, he won't be there. CJ gets 60-80 yards on 8-12 carries, and the AFC wins over the NFC Vikings, 34-28.

Now, to recap:

AFC

Indy: 15-3 after beating Baltimore and losing to San Diego

San Diego: Represents the AFC in the Super Bowl with a 15-3 record. Wins over J-E-T-S-JETS-JETS-JETS and at Indy.

New England: 10-7. One-and-done with loss against Ravens.

Cincy: 10-7. Can't rebound against J-E-T-S-JETS-JETS-JETS in wild card round.

J-E-T-S-JETS-JETS-JETS: 10-8. Rex Ryan's first playoff success in Cincy turns sour when they lose in San Diego.

Baltimore: 10-8 after upsetting Brady and the Pats, and falling hard in Indy.

NFC

New Orleans: At 13-4, the Ain'ts return in a four game slide. They lose to Philly in the Superdome.

Minnesota: The right foot of Mason Crosby sends the Vikes spiraling, they finish 12-5.

Dallas: The Boys get embarrassed the week after embarrassing the team that embarrased them in an embarrassing loss, so they finish 11-6.

Arizona: The Cards stood no chance against the Packers, a 10-7 record ends Kurt Warner's career.

Green Bay: A strong fight is not strong enough. They destroy Arizona, use the heroics of Mason Crosby to win in the Metrodome, but as soon as they come home, are out-flown by the Philadelphia Eagles. 13-6.

Philadelphia: Another 6-seed run ends in ecstasy, as the Eagles turn the tables in Dallas, New Orleans and Green Bay to reach their second Super Bowl. 14-5.

The Super Blog will come nearer that time, so stay interested, my friends.

it's been a while...

happy march everyone! there's some stuff I want to talk about today...mainly sports, but hopefully some more important stuff too...

firstly, congratulations, william hayes, you're the titans' new starting defensive tackle! i think he'll do fine filling the hole left by albert haynesworth, who i'm still having trouble seeing in a redskins uni. cutlers mad at the broncos for trying to trade him for cassel, who the pats franchised away to the chiefs. speaking of franchised, the titans are still waiting to sign bo scaife, but as we all know by now, "wait" is mike riendfelt's favorite word during free agency.



in my top five list, we've resigned collins but lost haynesworth and brandon jones. we have not got anyone from anywhere else. so we're just losing players. what is mike riendfelts problem!?!?!?



so anyway, what else was i gonna talk about?



my life is pretty crazy right now...school, church, scouts, you know, the normal times about four. i actually have homework now, and i'm getting more piled on every night. it's not really good, especially since i enjoy putting stuff off as long as i can. latin and precalc are the big ones. hopefully i'll get it all taken care of soon.

just finished the latin outline...waiting for the printer to work...and for itunes genius to update...

so i should talk about all the stuff going on at church...everyone's getting excited about safe sanctuaries...well...mostly everyone. drive group's dwindling at best and once the policy's in place we will be in jeopardy of not existing at all. choir's getting to be easier than it's been in a while because we're just singing songs from five and six years ago which i already know for the most part, and because i'm getting alot better at reading, that helps too.

speaking of reading, i'm doing the pit orchestra for hello dolly @ jpII. the music is really easy, once i figured out, "hey, i'm playing in like six songs. and they're all in C# so i'm basically playing everything sharp. wow this is lame. but fun!" i did all county last weekend (was it really just last weekend?) and i'm ready for more extracurricular sax!

i alluded to something i did recently in the last paragraph, and practically alluded to another. the first would be all county the second (though not chronilogically) is bye bye birdie.

all county was extremely fun. there was alot of inside jokes that me christopher and brionna allude to twice or three times daily during band class. andrea also went, but she skipped out of band this semester to take accounting. swagger was a big inside joke, and so was the first chair tuba/downbeat/etc. oh and justin.

secondly, christopher and dad were in bye bye birdie last month and i was at six of the thirteen showings of it, i think most of any non-cast member, musician or director, other than mother. it was a really good show everyone who missed it missed a good one.

i don't think i've had a post yet this year...i lost my job and dad is officially unemployed as of last night so the economy's hitting us hard.

other than that, life's pretty much the same...

well consider this blog over.

later,

-cth

well...not much...but...here it is in all its shining glory...blog number 23

i take time out of my busy schedule to honor all the great number 23's:

Michael Jordan (started the number's status as that of superstars)
LeBron James
Don Mattingly
Ryne Sandberg
David Beckham
Devin Hester
Marshawn Lynch
Ronnie Brown
Cadillac Williams
Erin Malone
Julio Lugo

i probably have missed many...but these are some notables....however, there is one more:

THIS BLOG!!!

so anyway, just got through espn's lastest tmq and found it an enjoyable read...lots of good stuff in it...also the new mayne street...not as good as some others but it's okay...it's got some pg-13 moments, but overall as long as you are mature enough to handle it...it's good.

go titans! i was thoroughly upset by the loss to the texans, and then by pittsburgh winning. my pick is still titans over panthers in the super bowl. we'll see...but i repeat GO TITANS!!!! AFC SOUTH DIVISION CHAMPS, BABY!!!!!!

how bout them celtics! i think that's all i have to say about that

baseball winter meetings...hope sox get away with texeira...that would be awesome.

my new favorite song: live your life by rhianna and t.i.

that's it for now

-cth

So…random nfl stuff

To start out, i discovered this video today of al davis discussing lane kiffin’s firing. Kinda redundant, kinda redundant (oh did i mention it was redundant?), kinda funny. It was interesting…al davis has def lost his brain

Also…how bout them titans! An amazingly hilarious yet pitiful 47-10 domination of Detroit was just the start of the routs to see that weekend, dallas 34-9 over seattle, philly 48-20 over Arizona, ole miss and Alabama shutting out msu 45-0 and auburn 36-0, respectfully in the egg and iron bowls. Texas ran over a&m and the gay-tors beat fsu 38-15 i believe…other nfl creaming were Baltimore 34-3 over Cincinnati giants 23-7 vs Washington, Pittsburgh beating the pats 33-10, and minnesota’s 34-14 defeat of Chicago.

So everything’s going great…just finished duty roster for room in the inn and final English paper…about the bcs and a possible playoff situation…cloning paper got a 100 so i was pretty pumped about that. Christmas tree’s up…not ornamented or anything…gonna wait til after Saturday (12/13) to do that. My schedule’s pretty much booked up til then.

Other than that i’m takin it easy not stressin to much…well, that’s a blatant lie. I’m totally worried about midstate Sunday…my sax teacher randomly decides he has something to do on the day of my lesson three days before auditions…so i’m freakin out about that…and practice didn’t go to well yesterday…so yeah…

Guess that’s it for now…

Until later

-cth

stuff

titans are 8-0!!!!!! i'm super pumped and ready to see the bears get destroyed. it's gonna be no contest...grossman won the game for chicago last week, so naturally he's gonna suck this week. he's consistently inconsistent! so anyway, it's great...election's coming up today and i don't have a favorite i'm gonna go along with what everyone here says...mccain wins tennessee, obama wins the nation. i'll be playin around w/ the magic map on cnn.com...here's the link: http://www.cnn.com/ELECTION/2008/calculator/. we'll see what happens...blog to come probably thursday on the result...all i know is that whoever wins, he's my president, and i will support him. so that's the long and the short of it.

iverson traded to the pistons, billups goes to denver...really i don't care about the nba until the playoffs...and then only with mild interest...so it's really no big deal to me.

otherwise, guess everything else is going just fine, visited tech on thursday and wasn't all that impressed...but i got out of school, so it was worth it! saw several mhms grads and that was nice. halloween was fun and so was this weekend....but now that i'm thinking saturday, i'm thinking college football, which reminds me...

FULMER'S LEAVING UT!!!!!! that was very shocking. that man has been the face of tennessee football for two decades now, and his leaving means that that will no longer be the case. i'm more of a vandy fan now, but it still hurts. firing a coach with several conference championships and two national championship appearances after one bad season...even though they tentatively have one of the best recruiting classes in the nation for next year...doesn't make sense...next thing you know they'll fire bruce pearl for not making it to the final four. oh, well, stuff happens...

vandy plays florida next week...make it four losses in a row...after a 5-0 start...classic vandy football in the second half of the season. until next time, i'll be rejoicing, comiserating, and remembering some more stuff to write about...

-cth

quick blog

titans are 6-0!!!! after dominating kc 34-10 with over 300 yards rushing, there is no doubt that the titans are once again the best team in the nfl. chris johnson and lendale both had career long td runs in the fourth, and i don't think the defense even tried like the last half of the fourth quarter cause we had such a demanding lead. so that's that point

next: vandy's dropped their last two, one expected, one not. this saturday's homecoming vs. duke, which i'm pretty sure we're gonna win. then we'll be bowl eligible for the first time in, well...quite a while.

got three a's and a b (chemistry) on my report card today, so i know what i need to work on.

backpacking was amazing. hiked in six miles and out six, so i was EXTREEMELY exhausted come sunday afternoon when i got home. other than that, not much more to comment on, so until next time...

-c

a blocked punt! to beat the cowboys in overtime! and other football stuff

to start off, I CAN'T BELIEVE that VANDERBILT lost to MISSISSIPPI STATE!!!!!!!!!!!! that and the red sox going up 1-0 over tampa in the alcs were the only news i had this weekend, thanks to being in the middle of nowhere at an amazing retreat (more to come on that). so anyway, po'd in one way, elated in the other. after the vandy game, the next football i got was at 1:30 pm sunday...cause i fell asleep while i was unpacking...so i watched a bit of indy destroying the ravens...and then the new york titans (still cant get over brett favre in navy and gold) defeating the woebegone (retreat memory!!!) cincinnati bengals 26-14. here's what marv lewis was telling his boys in the fourth quarter:

ok, we're only down six points. the other team's driving...lets' hold 'em to nothing defense, but don't use any timeouts cause we'll need them later..."

after the titan's td:

"well, we're down twelve now, but we can still come back...just don't use more than one timeout...cause we'll need them later..."

for what? the week 10 bye???? neway, enough for that game.

next game: falcons-bears.

just another reason the bears aren't playoff-worthy again...yet. they should've been defending all the receivers double-teamed but jenkins was able to get the catch made and out of bounds with one second left. and then more elam heroics...but really that's commonplace now...bottom line: good game, fantastic ending, and can't wait to see the falcons make the playoffs (whenever they do). matt ryan is the new face of the falcons franchise. he's a better player and person than mike vick.

texans-dolphins.

matt shaub is the best qb to ever play for the houston texans. not only did he set a passing record for the texans, but he got the game winning score rushing. pretty sweet. good game again.

cowboys-cardinals.

awesome ending! and that play in the first quarter where romo lost the ball after being called down...totally a fumble. whatever the refs were thinking was wrong. so that was sweet

rams-redskins.

congrats rams on your first win. firing linehan was probably the best move they've made for a while.

red sox

game 3 of the alcs tonight. series tied 1-1 time to come home to boston. can't wait to see my boys win it all. go red sox!!!!!

retreat

it was awesome. started out friday evening celebrating joes' big 6-oh. connecting with friends was great. then we had a good night's sleep.

saturday was great. "boom chicka boom" started the day, then a lot of activities. tossed footballs, frisbees, and flying rings. lots of discussion, both religious and non religious. then went to the nursing home in dickson. guy with demientia told us a story...twenty times...it went kinda like this.

"God said i don't know what you stole, but whatever it is both of you, you and the thing you stole, wherever i am, both of you will be also. it's written in red, and i believe every word of it. and then i turned the page...and two women walked down buck nekked. and two minutes later, three more women walked down buck nekked. i had to put three cloths on 'em and take their shoes off. and i turned the page and one of 'em said well i don't want you to take my shoes off. and i said i don't care what you don't want, i've been demanded to take your shoes off and i'm gonna do just that. not later, but right now. and it was written in red and i believe every word of it. and then i turned the page and whatever you stole, both of you wherever i am you will both there be also..." and on and on it went.

so after that we went back to garner creek and hung out and ate some more, then bonfire, and matt christopher and i played an awesome game of apples to apples. the favorite word/phrase was "my body." the first green card we drew while christopher was in the shower was "sensual", and the first red card was "my body". it just continued from there. the best play though was on the green card "temperamental" and i put down the red card "women" great cause it was all guys playing and we shared the same sentiment. so that was fun.

sunday morning was worhip. then we left and got home, football, and today. got a shot and blood drawn. not fun, but it was necesary. had an awesome time playing with the birch babies allie and aubrey, and the eaton twins josh and andrew, and judy jones' granddaughter sarah. all little kids. but also enjoyed some quality time with the youth at the retreat: christopher, matt, lyndsay, jonathan, and tristan. and the youth leader from rehoboth philip. so it was all good. until next time.....

-cth

i now take some time out of my research....

i'm in the middle of researching for a 1,250 word paper due on monday...about the similarities and differences between...what else...college and pro football...and i'm taking a little break from my research to display some crazy trivia:

in 1935, the first heisman trophy winner's name was jay berwanger. did you know:
that in 1935, the trophy was called the Downtown Athletic Club's Trophy to the Outstanding College Football Player East of the Mississippi River? Can you imagine it: "And the 2008 Downtown Athletic Club's Trophy to the Outstanding College Football Player East of the Mississippi River goes to..." followed by the name of someone who went to school not east of the mississippi, instead in such a school as usc?
that Berwanger was drafted by the eagles, traded to the bears, asked for 25,000 for 2 years and never signed an nfl contract...his professional career was in salesmanship; foam-rubber was what he sold...now just imagine t.o. asking for 25,000 for 2 years today...and then selling foam-rubber!

how many of the top ten finishers for the 2006 heisman can you name?

i can't name all of them off the spot...but if i see a list, i can recognize alll the names and their schools.

i can probably do the same for '07...

and '08 and on will be easy...

because i'll be paying closer attention...

so this is my mid-research blog...

and by the way...the red sox are up 1-0 over anaheim...and i'll be rubbing it all over jonathan coca's face...

the end