NFC South Week 2 By Rafael Garcia Sr. Contributing Writer Football Reporters Online Southeast Region

                                    NFC South Week 2
 
By Rafael Garcia
Sr. Contributing Writer Football Reporters Online
Southeast Region
 
 Atlanta 28 Carolina 20
This was another one of those divisional games that would set the tone for the rest of the season. Panther quarterback Jake Delhomme had to regain his confidence and the Falcons were trying to start 2-0 for just the seventh time in team history. Falcon QB Matt Ryan got his team off to a good start and took his team into the locker room with a 21-13 lead at the half. He showed that he is maturing with each game and is starting to take control of the offense as opposed to managing it. He finished 21-27 for 220 yards three touchdowns and one pick. At one point he was so in the zone he completed 13 consecutive passes. It was also the first time in his young career that he threw for three scores in the first half. The Panthers were determined to stop running back Michael Turner but he still managed to get 105 yards on 28 carries. Meanwhile Delhomme got his groove back as he went 25-41 for 308 yards and one touchdown. His big mistake came with just over two minutes left in the game. Chris Houston intercepted his pass that was intended for Steve Smith and then with one last chance his hail mary was knocked away with time running out. So now the Falcons take their show to New England and a chance to put the Pats at 1-2. It will be a homecoming of sorts for Ryan who played his college ball at Boston College.
 
New Orleans 48 Philadelphia 22
Well so much for containing Saints quarterback Drew Brees. After throwing for six touchdowns last week Brees came back with another three. It resulted in another 40-point game for the Saints and another big win. He finished 25-34 for 311 yards with a pick. Brees showed that at this point he is the most prolific passer in the game right now. It was as if he could do whatever he wanted when he wanted to. He hit receivers across the middle and hit them long. The game was close enough in the first half as the Saints held a 17-13 lead. In the third quarter things opened up for the Saints when Ellis Hobbs fumbled the kickoff and Chris Reis recovered it at the Eagle 22. Two plays later it was 24-13 New Orleans. Scott Shanie picked off Philly quarterback Kevin Kolb on the next possession and that led to another score. Now it was 31 -13 just like that and the air was taken out of the Eagles. The questions about backup Kolb were answered for at least one Sunday as he went 31-51 for 391 yards, two touchdowns and three interceptions. With McNabb out again head coach Andy Reid will once again turn to Kolb to start next week. So the Saints take their highflying act to Buffalo next week and they do not look like they will be slowed down. Brees is hitting receivers on short passes and they are turning them into big gains. He is hitting his long passes with receivers in stride. The running game is working as well. Now the defense needs to step it up as they have shown that they can give up the big play too. If the “D” can pick it up this Saints team could go deep into the playoffs this year.
 
Buffalo 33 Tampa Bay 20
When the two teams took the field Sunday they looked evenly matched. By the end of the first quarter the Bucs appeared to be overmatched in this one. They allowed Bills running back Fred Jackson to scorch them for 163 yards on 28 carries as their front seven were consistently shoved back by the Bills offensive line. They let them get into a rhythm that produced 220 yards passing and 218 rushing. A balance they cannot allow if they wish to compete with the rest of the NFC South. Yet there was some good production by some in a losing effort. Quarterback Byron Leftwich wasn’t too bad in going 26-50 for 296 yards and three touchdowns. He did make mistakes as well throwing an interception to Donte Whitner who ran it back 76 yards for the score. He was forced to play catch up all day after his team fell behind 17-0 after just one quarter. The running game, that was so successful thus far, produced little to nothing. Cadillac Williams was held to nine yards and the team as a whole managed just 57 in a game dictated by the passing game. The defense gave up 438 yards of offense to Buffalo as Trent Edwards went down field more often than usual. With the game still in hand the Bucs let Terrell Owens get open for a 43-yard touchdown that sealed the win for Buffalo. Now the Bucs fall to 0-2 and find themselves in hole early in the year. Their defense must make their adjustments and Williams must get the running game in gear. Leftwich needs to look down the field a little more and not rely on the short pass as much.  Being in the same division as New Orleans and Atlanta does not give them a lot time to fix things. Next week they have the huge task of trying to stop the New York Giants run machine. A 0-3 hole looks likely if they cannot right this ship during the week.

Naomi Sims, first black supermodel, died of breast cancer at 61; opened doors

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Wow, what a year for the passing of people who formed our modern culture. From Michael Jackson and Farrah Faucett to Naomi Sims, the World's first black supermodel. She passed away of complications due to breast cancer last month at just 61 years old.

By being the first black supermodel, Naomi Sims ironically opened up modeling and the fashion industry for a wider range of women regardless of race. Today fashion and modeling are so much a part of our mainstream culture that BARE Magazine has achieved much success as a college-run fashion magazine at UC Berkeley.



Naomi Sims is the focus of this blog and of a renewed push for breast cancer fundraising and awareness.

My mother was diagnosed with breast cancer in 2005 but thanks to a then-new drug called Femara, she's still doing very well. On October 1st, she turns 75 years old.

Michelle Malkin sends crazy right-wingnuts to attack Zennie

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As I predicted conservative blogger Michelle Malkin played right on cue and sent her band of readers, some of them (not all of them) crazy right-wingnuts, to my first blog post to write all kinds of really ridiculous stuff. 

And I've received some really nutty emails as well.  At least some of them got my name - Zennie Abraham - right, even as they've made every other mistake in the book and issued insults and lies too.  One person wrote that I worked for Elihu Harris and I'm currently his economic advisor and he's the Mayor of Oakland.  Wow, that' was so ten years ago. 

Really. 

I love Michelle, awesome blogger business person, I just happen to hold that she's too conservative to see the light of reality, that's all.

As I said, it seems ok if it's a white Republican POTUS and the kids are worshiping a carboard cutout, but if it's a President Obama song and the kids were celebrating Black History Month, as was the case in New Jersey, she's got a real problem.

Michelle,  great you are, but what do you have against Black History Month? 

Baucus' Finance Committee delays "public option" vote

The Senate Finance Committee, chaired by Max Baucus of Montana, has delayed the vote on the "public option" until next week. Possibly in part because the Congressional Budget Office has notified Congress that tethering a public option to Medicare reimbursement rates would save the government $110 billion as reported earlier here. That more savings than even the original "public option" proposals by leveraging a system that's already in place.

Or maybe it was partly a reaction to the reprehensible, fear-mongering mailer from Humana to senior citizens on Medicare. Whatever the causes, as the bills stand now, people can not opt out but are stuck with what their employer offers, an obvious nod to big insurance companies which threatens portability while protecting their profits. There are lots of ways to improve the bill, and fiscally responsible ways to reform health care and health care payment systems in the USA.

You now have more time to get those emails sent and be heard.

Senate Finance Committee
Democrats	Republicans
MAX BAUCUS, MT JOHN D. ROCKEFELLER IV, WV KENT CONRAD, ND JEFF BINGAMAN, NM JOHN F. KERRY, MA BLANCHE L. LINCOLN, AR RON WYDEN, OR CHARLES E. SCHUMER, NY DEBBIE STABENOW, MI MARIA CANTWELL, WA BILL NELSON, FL ROBERT MENENDEZ, NJ THOMAS CARPER, DE	CHUCK GRASSLEY, IA ORRIN G. HATCH, UT OLYMPIA J. SNOWE, ME JON KYL, AZ JIM BUNNING, KY MIKE CRAPO, ID PAT ROBERTS, KS JOHN ENSIGN, NV MIKE ENZI, WY JOHN CORNYN, TX

It's clear there's no "perfect" system, and there's big money riding on keeping things "as is," but despite the money-hungry spin from fast-talking pundits playing free and loose with the facts, despite the 6-to-1 ratio of health care lobbyists to members of congress, and despite the rampant misinformation campaigns, one thing has become obvious to even the most casual observers:

There is lots of room for improvement in the current scheme.

We've got to concentrate on finding a fairer way to distribute the costs while controlling the expenses. The good news is: the benefit of any and every improvement will flow to you, and me, and our community - no matter if you think of community as the neighborhood, the city, the country, or the planet. And now you have just a little more time to make that point with the members of the committee.

Do it now...

...then Digg this post!

Ellen DeGeneres tweets makes UC Berkeley place to be - but for a sexy strip down?

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Yesterday's giant UC Berkeley student, worker, and teacher walkout protesting the planned tuition increase and the privatization of Cal was aided on Wednesday by the tweets of the always interesting Ellen DeGeneres of The Ellen Show, who's Twitter account has over 3 million followers (I'm one of them)

(Hey, it's Follow Friday! Follow me on Twitter!)

Ellen DeGeneres started with this:

Are you in Berkeley, California? Are you near Berkeley? Can you get to Berkeley by tomorrow? Then keep following my Tweets. 6:41 PM Sep 22nd from web

Then...

Tweet to UC Berkeley: Students, faculty, honored guests, keep studying my Tweets. There's gonna be a test today.11:30 AM Sep 23rd from web

And then...

People of Berkeley: Go to Sather Gate NOW. First 10 to whisper MUFFIN to Aaron get a Samsung Jack phone & are in the running 4 a huge prize.

Finally...

Followers in Berkeley, Californian the games over for today. Thanks for playing and keep watching my TWEETS.6:46 PM Sep 23rd from web

And today...

You saw my tweets to the UC Berkeley students yesterday -- today find out what I made them do! They had to bare it all. http://su.pr/2N2oUP

The person who stripped down in the ASUC Store got a prize.

Video:



Ok. Once again, Ellen's shown the power of Twitter, but in the process managed to give the impression that students were just hanging out with nothing better to do. In the video that appeared on the show there's no mention of the issue that was to take place the next day.

Plus, there's no tweet from Ellen expressing support for the protesters or the students - many of whom are followers of Ellen on Twitter - who are being squeezed by the cost to get an education.

What did Nicholette get for being in the buff in the ASUC? A $1,000 and a trip to see The Ellen Show. Man, for all that Ellen could have made a bigger statement by paying for her semester at Berkeley!

Samsung may not have wanted to get involved in a political statement as the sponsor of this tweet stunt, but given that students need money to buy their products, Samsung missed the boat here. Moreover, Ellen DeGeneres has enough juice to have talked them into something more productive than was done Wednesday.

Like what? Well she could have driven followers to the UC Student Walkout website for them to "get educated" on the issue and how it impacts students.

Tom Hayes: The profit motive is great, but...

There was a time when the concept of community was strictly geographic - in practical terms, what happened to people who directly affected your chance of survival was what mattered. Money and technology have profound ramifications for how we see communities and how they function.

We're all utterly interconnected.

Here's an overview, with excerpts, of the recent article, "Communities of Interest" describing the debate over health care insurance reform from a moral and community perspective at the Actualizers blogsite:

In the richest, most technologically advanced nation in the world, the United States of America, we are debating the merit of extending health care coverage to tens of millions of our closest friends and neighbors by making it affordable. Tens of millions of American citizens have no health care insurance.

Yet, rather than examine the successes in other countries and adopting their best practices, big business interests in this debate are spending millions of dollars every day (collected from health care premiums) to influence the men and women in Congress, who are sorely outnumbered by the lobbyists. It's a travesty - a sham - that makes a mockery of the alleged reliance on free markets to insure efficiency and improvement of goods and services.

One way or another, we pay.  One way, with only some of us insured, we not only pay for the costs of treating the uninsured, including potentially their bankruptcies, we also pay 8-digit salaries and bonuses to CEOs and lobbyists who profit from rising costs that have outstripped inflation for three decades.  Those costs do get spread across the area where the insurers do business, of course.

There's certainly no "perfect" system, and there's big money riding on keeping things "as is,"  but one thing has become obvious to even the most casual observer:

There's lots of room for improvement in the current scheme, for finding a fairer way to distribute the costs while controlling the expenses, and the benefit of improvement will flow to you, and me, and our community - no matter if you think of community as the neighborhood, the city, the country, or the planet.

The "profit motive" is great. It brings consumers choices for fair trade coffee, and tea parties, and "out-of-season" blueberries, and Blackberries™, and a veritable plethora of choices for our transportation, wardrobes, and more. It also brings the cost of MRIs down in Japan, by orders of magnitude when compared to what we pay in the USA - why is that? Because we've let the system of paying for health care mimic a competitive market, and fallen for the eristic rhetoric that preserves the profits of these gargantuan companies, sometimes operating as virtual monopolies. In practice it's not possible for a consumer to make a real, let alone well-informed choice, about health care costs or insurance.

The Congressional Budget Office has notified Congress that tethering a public option to Medicare reimbursement rates would save the government $110 billion! That's more than even a "public option" in which the government has to negotiate rates with doctors and other health care providers, which the GOP seems so opposed to. There are LOTS of ways to improve the bottom line -- but the bottom line is:
It's time to get the profit motive out of health care insurance.

Read more?

Michelle Malkin's silly, baseless, "Obama Dear Leader" witch hunt

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UPDATE: Malkin sends crazy right-wingnuts to attack Zennie

Michelle Malkin's being silly and I'm gonna have a lot of fun!

The idea that conservatives - or those who choose to follow what I call a "couch potato conservative" line as if they were Star Trek's "The Borg Collective" - have been mean, biased, misguided, and silly in the Age of Obama is proven every day in ways large and small.

Michelle Malkin, who brands herself a conservative blogger, has just shown a new way to present conservative silliness: picking on little school kids and teachers who make up songs about President Obama.

Man, this is about as bad as the birthers, and I've said a bunch about them...



Poor Michelle got herself in a fit because a teacher at B. Bernice Young Elementary School in Burlington Township, NJ had her students make up a song about President Obama.

I mean, Michelle got really upset about the matter. Why? It's not like the town is Republican; it's over 50 percent Democrat and the way the GOP's going that 46 percent claiming to be for them is going to shrink for sure.

Plus, from what I've seen the kids didn't go off and complain. And Michelle's right about someone saying "Hey you're reacting because its kids of color so you're being a bit racist there" because she is being just that. Really. She is. So stating it was a good idea even if it doesn't soften the intellectual blow that's coming.

Why do I make that claim?

First, why in God's name would Malkin link to every conservative flack on the block about this matter, and uh, second, forget that in 2006 school kids were instructed to make up a song praising FEMA and its work in the wake of Hurricane Katrina and then sing it directly to Laura Bush!

I'm serious! Stop laughing. Check the link above.

So these kids - none of color by the way - were brainwashed to think the government did a great job in "restoring" Louisiana after Katrina when it point of fact almost 1/16th of America was socially and economically devistated and FEMA did nothing to provide meaningful relief in a timely fashion.

Yet, Michelle Malkin's whining about a harmless song about President Obama, who took over an American Economy wrecked by George W. Bush, including a Louisiana that's a shadow of its former self in the wake of Katrina.

And speaking, er, writing of President Bush, what about the "Jesus Camp" where kids were worshiping a cardboard cutout of good old Number 43? Ah, didn't see it? I've got it right here for ya:



Now I'd bet Michelle would say, "Aww, that's so cute!" Why? Because the kids are white and its George Bush? Yeah, right. And so there's the racial problem - she can ignore singing if its done by white school kids praising a white Republican President, but if the subject's America's first black President, she gets really mad.

Oh, brother.

Michelle, please. Come, on. Will ya? You've got no choice here; no cherry picking. Either accept them all, or denounce them all.

I told you I was going to have fun!

Susan Boyle | Susan Boyle's album "I Dreamed A Dream" releases November

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Wow, Susan Boyle has, as they say, "blown up" and doesn't show any signs of stopping with her first album "I Dreamed A Dream" to be released in November. And a new look, courtesy of Harper's Bazaar.

This is what I said about Boyle when I first heard her music and her story:



It was just April of this year that the World was shocked to attention by Boyle's amazing voice and the Internet turbo charged her into stardom, taking what in the past I estimate would have been two years to occur and shortening it to just a few months. The first YouTube videos of Susan Boyle's performance on Britain's Got Talent were seen over 150 million times!

With all of her attention, it's hard to believe she didn't win that competition, and I still maintain Boyle should have quit BGT. But that all seems a distant memory now. 

Oakland City Council meeting parking video - city staff clowns around

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Yesterday I blogged on how the Oakland City Council got its ass chewed out by angry Oakland business owners and residents Tuesday night over the new parking enforcement process, especially the $55 tickets and the 8 PM daily end time. I promised a video; here is the first of a set of them:



It features Grand Lake Theater owner Alan Michaan explaining that he wants the Oakland City Council to "rescind (the parking plan) or (be) recall(ed)" and Chinatown Chamber of Commerce Executive Director Carl Chan explaining that his well-organized group (which will be more of the focus of my second video), has no such intentions.

The video at nine minutes long also features the angry rant of Oakland retailer Steve Salazar, who accuses the City of Oakland of "predatory parking ticket" practices. But I want you to notice the African American gentleman in the background as Steve is talking to the council.

For some reason that man decided to clown and show the inside of his coat. Why and who he is I do not know, as I didn't pay attention to him at the time. But I can tell you that he's an Oakland City staffer and his antics demonstrate how little the City's staff cares about the feelings of the City's people.

It's also a lesson in what not to do before the cameras. He was better off being still and just listening.

But I digress.

After Steve's rant I also talked to Oakland commercial real estate broker Barbara Kami, who explained that she wished the Oakland Businesses were as well organized as the Oakland Chinatown businesses, a direct slap at the Oakland Chamber of Commerce, which had only one staff representative there and no - I repeat zero - organized membership effort.

Given how active Alan Michaan has been in this effort, perhaps the Oakland Chamber of Commerce should give him a leadership role in the organization.

Barbara's right. The Oakland business community, which is being negatively impacted by the plan, was all but invisible, and we have to ask just what the Chamber's up to. But that's a question for another blog post. The other problem is that City of Oakland's staff in the city finance and administration offices has to identify $900,000 in money that in reality doesn't exist.

The motion presented Tuesday night by Councilmembers Pat Kernighan (District Two - Elmhurst / Glen View) , Jane Brunner (District One - North Oakland), and Jean Quan (District Four - Montclair), was for the roll back of parking enforcement hours from 8 PM to 6 PM and for the following actions to be implemented:

1) Add 250 metered stalls citywide to bring in $200,000
2) Create a new program to enforce against illegal use of handicap parking placards, to bring in $150,000
3) Open the Pacific Renaissance Garage for nighttime use to earn $80,000
4) Redirect a portion of revenue from parking garage augmentation to the general fund at $100,000
5) Sell ad space at the back of parking payment receipts at $30,000

I have to say the last idea is totally morbid. How would you like a parking payment receipt with an add for a massage on the back of it? I mean that could happen under this idea, you know?

Councilmember Desley Brooks (District 6 Central East Oakland) made an excellent point when she asked about the cost of implementing these mesures, which was not known, but one guess a City staffer offered was that the 250 metered stalls alone cost $8,000 each to purchase.

Each.

So, the City of Oakland would spend $2 million to collect just $200,000 from those meters.

That's just plain stupid.

Overall, the motion is - and I don't mean this personally - not a good idea. Folks, the bottom line is there's not $900,000 out there to get. And as much as I may think Oakland City Administrator Dan Lindheim's not at the level of a Robert Bobb, he at least had the guts to say so Tuesday night, but he hedged and said "maybe $200,000".

I'll go a step further than that, and say the Oakland City Council should just cut $900,000 in services to offset the revenue loss. What does gall me is this:

The Oakland City Council doesn't listen

The Oakland City Council doesn't listen to the market even as its talking to the group. Councilmember Brooks wants to have a parking needs study done to determine how we should address this problem of enforcement and parking need.

Look, the people of Oakland have emailed, called, and talked to the City Council - they are the market. They're telling the Council they want free parking in commercial areas on certain days, affordable tickets, and enforcement hours that stop at 6 PM. That's it.

They're also telling the Council that they don't want the city's budget problems balanced on their backs. So I say, cut the budget. Oh, and what about Councilmember Jean Quan's little attempt to dig at Oakland Auditor Courtney Ruby's budget? That was a funny one.

Tuesday night, Councilmember Quan blurted out an idea where the City should take the $410,000 of whistle-blower money that was allocated to Ruby's office and has remained unused, and also said that since its a two-year allocation adding up to just over $800,000, it should be used.

I laughed, and Councilmember Brunner, who was in the Presidents chair leading the Council at the time, quickly changed the subject thus basically saving Quan from looking real, real bad.

Now, it's a rumor that Ruby's considering running for Mayor of Oakland, and we know Quan's had a series of exploratory meetings - just a way of getting her face out there - on what Oaklanders want from their mayor, so I think Quan's shooting across Ruby's bow here. It came off to many in the room as if she was picking on Ruby.

But messing with whistle-blower money or even thinking of it, was a bad move on Quan's part. The money's untouched as of this writing; in two weeks, we'll see what Oakland's City staff comes up with, and let's hope that they can avoid clowning before the cameras.

Humana Medicare misleading elderly members about Heath Care Reform

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According to Dawn Teo, a blogger over at the Huffington Post, Humana Medicare has deliberately sent misleading mailers about President Obama's health care reform proposal.

Humana's Michael Graves designed headquarters

The mailers falsely report that the reform plan will cut "important services and benefits" from Medicare. Teo explains that Health and Human Services's (HHS) Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) wrote Humana asking them to stop sending such false and misleading information.

Humana's political advocacy actions are outrageous. Read Teo's article and inform her if you've received such mailers from your heath insurance provider.

Mackenzie Phillips poll: what do you think of her "sharing?"

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Mackenzie Phillips, the child star of the 70s hit "One Day at A Time", appeared on Oprah Wednesday and will again on Friday of this week to share the news that she had a 10 year sexual relationship with her dad, John Phillips, lead singer of "The Mamas and The Papas."

The media blitz or "wave" started by her Oprah appearance is timed with the release of her book called "High on Arrival" in bookstores today.

What do you think of Mackenzie Phillips' actions? Take my poll, below:

create audio polls & quizzes on pollsb.com

Mackenzie Phillips had sex with dad, John Phillips - talks to Oprah

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Mackenzie Phillips took "TMI" to a new level.

I saw the news and had to tune in, if only for 16 minutes, but to see Mackenzie Phillips just pour herself out to Oprah and say that she had sex and drugs (and well, rock and roll) with her father John Phillips was just, well, it made my skin crawl.

I didn't see the entire segment; Valerie Bertinelli made a surprise appearance on the show to share her concern for her friend. Real sad. Really is.

("Rape" is how it was described by one website but she had relations with him repeatedly until he, according to her statements on Oprah, wanted her to be the mother of the other kids.)

It seems like it's in this new "tell-all" pattern we're establishing where Megan Fox talked to Rolling Stone in a similar way:



And we have Michelle Wie blogging her talents and her bod:



But Mackenzie Phillips, who I watched religiously on "One Day at A Time" just took my breath away and made me wonder how much we should bear as public figures.

I mean, ok, Mac went through an abusive teenage phase to be sure, but to bring it out as she did?

Here's Celeb TV's video summary:



I go back and forth on this and admit to some confusion in the whole deal. See, part of me understands that she obviously from her tears on Oprah needed the release but yes it was timed to the release of her book, which has her account with her father in it.

She's certainly going to make money from bearing her soul and "sharing" but now anyone with kids who happened to hear this has some explaining to do I would think. Which brings me to this poll question: should MacKenzie Phillips have spilled the beans the way she did, so publicly?

How much is too much?

Here's the poll:

create audio polls & quizzes on pollsb.com

Oakland City Council gets ass chewed out by Oaklanders

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The Oakland City Council got its ass chewed out last night, and I'm not sure there's much left this morning.

This is an account best told with video, and I've got a lot of it coming today. The meeting, at least for the issue of rolling back parking enforcement times from the current 8 PM ending to the old 6 PM stop point, didn't itself end until 12:29 AM.

I've attended well over a 1,000 Oakland City Council meetings going back to 1987, but I can't remember one where several people were as red-faced angry as they were last night. Oh sure, we've had our "Hugh Bassett" moments, where the Oakland school teacher would blast Councilmember Larry Reid (District 7 East Oakland), but nothing like this. Only video does it justice.

Grand Lake Theater owner Allan Michaan is threatening to start a recall of the Oakland City Council after it failed to roll back the parking enforcement time. Oakland Chinatown Chamber of Commerce head Carl Chan just plain lost it after the decision was made to revisit the matter in two weeks, and after Councilmember Rebecca Kaplan (At-Large) issued a controversial idea of rolling back the time to 7 PM from 8 PM.

I've known Carl since 1993. I've never seen him that angry.

Even Oakland gadfly journalist Sanjiv Handa gave a 17 minute speech blasting the Oakland City Council. In fact he did that countless times last night. The guy should just run for office, ya know?

More with videos in a few.

Colts top Dolphins - Peyton Manning ahead of Johnny Unitas

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There are times in life when one has to stop and admire the passage of history. This is one of those moments. The Indianapolis Colts' QB Peyton Manning surpassed the great Jonny Unitas in all time franchise wins last night. The Indianapolis Colts beat the Miami Dolphins in a hard-fought contest 27 to 23, and it could have swung the other way.

Peyton Manning 

The Miami Dolphins came out using a daring game plan, mixing three running back sets with a healthy dose of The Wildcat Formation to form a brew of ball control offense.

But with all of that, and having the clock longer than the Colts, the Dolphins still lost. Why?

Because when the Dolphins had the ball, they didn't make the most of their chances. Period. It doesn't matter how long a team has the ball - within reason - they have to "do" something with it. The Dolphins didn't. The Colts won.

Attacking The Wildcat Formation. 

This game provided no useful examples of how to attack the Dolpins' Wildcat formation. The Colts played a loose defense and basically stuck with it the entire game. That's not how a team should play the Wildcat Offense.

What an organization should do is blitz and for a simple reason. Many of the plays out of the Wildcat Formation are long developing, so a defense sending seven or eight people to rush the quarterback will disrupt the timing of the offense.

That's something the Colts did not do in game planning for the Dolphins Offense. But the Colts high powered offense made it such that the Colts didn't have to. What Indy did do was figure out where the Dolphins were running and pursue to the ball more rapidly than they did in the first half.

The Colts won the game going away, but didn't solve the Wildcat problem in the process.

Dominique Dicaprio - model shows why blogs top news sites

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Who's Dominique Dicaprio and why is she ahead of Megan Fox and Jessica Lange in search trends as of now?

That's a good question because as of this writing, Dominique Dicaprio (no relation to the actor) is the new "Miss Howard TV", and the number three hottest search in Google Trends, but when one clicks on her name, no news site source is listed on the left, but a bunch of blog site sources are listed on the right.

(UPDATE: Zimbio became the first news site to post the  Dominique Dicaprio information.)

If I do a back search on Dominique Dicaprio's trend history on Google Insights for Search, I get zip. Nada. Nothing. Yet, she's the one of the top Google trends. By contrast, Megan Fox and Jessica Lange have a long history.

I've noticed what may be a glitch in Google Insight for Search where listings from news sites and not blog sites dominate the historical searches because blog sites are not well represented on Google News - they have a separate category. If the system worked as it should, the current blog listings should have come up in the overall results for her name.

So in a way, Google itself is contributing to the blogs over news content problem. Unless one knows how to read between the search results, they'd miss a lot of traffic building content that's not out of bounds to post, if you know what I mean.

Think about it.

Let's face it, Jessica Lange's plastic surgery rumor's not all that big a deal either, but the mainstream press was all over it because it came from a big event, the Emmy Awards. If it came from Howard TV, who would know except for the blogs?

This common process is one reason why blogs tend to break news missed by mainstream media sites. Ok, Dominique Dicaprio being named "Miss Howard TV" is not important information in that it has nothing to do with America Foreign Policy. But it has everything to do with our economy.

Everything.

In an Internet age, content is king and the main reason why mainstream media news sites are commonly outdone by their blog competitors it that mainstream media news sites have a human filter that has little to do with the reality of what people are consuming.

Sticking one's finger in the wind of social change only gets that person's finger dirty. Learning to read traffic data and write for the Internet is the key. Also being a student of society helps, too.

As I tell anyone who asks, people want to read about people. Period. Without people the eyeball economy would not exist. But it does, its grown, and so now we have three camps: people who understand it, people who don't and complain about it, and people who don't know it exists.

The people who get it are the fewest in number of the three.

The folks in the middle offer an excuse that of course is designed to make them look good, like "That's not important to me" or "It's not in our demographic" - which is funny because I find more often than not that many people that one would think aren't looking at a something, are because, well again, they're people.

And even the people who make negative comments play into the game. They think that by making the insult they discourage coverage of the information, but it only adds to the buzz around it. And reading but not commenting helps because its traffic.

See, there's no escape from, well, who we are.

This is the reason why the Huffington Post smashes all news websites. It's the reason why the Gawker blog sites are so valuable. It's also the reason why Glam Media's worth millions and Perez Hilton's traffic numbers are unbelievable.

And why journalism school teachers invite TMZ.com's Harvey Levin to meet their students.

It's also the reason why some mainstream media news sites will fail, even as their editors talk about their highbrow standards and demographics.

News is everywhere; but websites have to use it to pays the bills. Otherwise, forget about surviving, even with a government bailout.

Stay tuned.

Jessica Lange at Emmys - plastic surgery?

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Is this Megan Fox's future?

One of my all time favorite actresses, Jessica Lange, who first made it big in the 1976 remake of King Kong, accepted the "Best Actress In A Miniseries or Movie" Emmy Award last night for her performance in HBO's Grey Garden, and caused a buzz just by smiling!

The Hollywood blogs and websites are humming with rumors of Lange's plastic surgery, which as of this writing she's never confirmed. But she looks fantastic, and if Jessica Lange did, great for her!

My only advice is for Lange to hit the weights. Few activities gives as much energy and turn back the body clock as a great daily weight-lifting routine using free weights over 30 pounds each (not the light ones).

Lange's arms could use the work as there's no appreciable muscle tone at all; she's already has the right frame, but she needs that cut look, like Angela Bassett or Dame Helen Mirren, who at 64 has a great body.

Their secret? Weight lifting.

Megan Fox in Rolling Stone: Sexy. Confused. Angry.

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Megan Fox is becoming a massively sexy quote machine. Th star of the new move Jennifer's Body was interviewed by the Rolling Stone's Erik Hedegaard, who seemed to be trying to get Fox to say something controversial. By my start to finish review, he succeeded. Take these comments...

“Men are scared of vaginas,” Fox rants, "A woman is most powerful when she is “completely in charge of her sexuality.”

(I agree with that last sentence.)

To her boyfriend Brian Austin Green: "I’ve had to say to Brian, ‘You have to go and stop talking to me, because I’m going to kill you. I’m going to stab you with something. Please leave,'"

Ok!

Fox also makes a remark that had me laughing, then railing. She states that when she's in a conversation with a man that's not going well or in the right direction, she takes steps to make the man feel small, which she feels one can do if the bloke's attracted to her.

The last time I checked the man generally feels large, not small, when he's attracted to a woman, starting with confidence. I suppose I could chalk this up to the musings of a 23-year-old because I wonder how much of this she will agree with when she's 53?

In all, I came away really knowing little more about Fox than I knew already. Yes, she says wild things. Obviously she looks great. But how does she prepare for a scene? What kind of research does she do? I read somewhere that Fox said she went to the 2008 Comic Con without a disguise just to see what all the fuss was about.

No one recognized her.

I'd like to know more about Megan Fox the person than Fox the live action cartoon character that's presented in Rolling Stone. A friend of mine observed:

"I read that article too. I liked her cover story for Maxim, October 2008, which had better pics. She's lost me now, celebrity is turning her nuts, my crush on her is over. Plus, she's way too young for me and I've had enough of anorexic starlet waif types.

The point of the RS article is that she hides behind the titilation and outrageousness, so you don't really know her, it's a defense mechanism against fame.

Fame crushes people sometimes (Michael Jackson, hello?), you can see the strain on her."

I don't view Fox from such a "dating prospect" personal perspective but I do agree something's a bit, er, different. This trend of 20-something women in entertainment describing themselves as messed up in some way should not go without study. If it's not Megan Fox explaining that she's capable of killing her boyfriend, then it's Tila Tequila writing that she's really messed up on her website, and look what she got herself into.

What's going on is anyone's best guess, but something's certainly wrong with this generation.

What do you think of Megan Fox? Take my poll below:

More surveys on pollsb.com

Raiders beat Chiefs but Raiders coaches at fault for Jamarcus Russell's passing stats

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The Oakland Raiders beat the Kansas City Chiefs 13 to 10 in a game that the Silver and Black made enough big plays to win. The one negative was the 7 completion for 24 attempt passing stat for Jamarcus Russell, the Raiders star quarterback.

Jamarcus Russell

I've already heard a bunch of comments about Russell, all pointing to his need to throw better. On KPIX Channel Five Dennis O'Donnell (who;s a good guy by the way) said that this is Russell's third year in the league, but really his second because of his 2007 holdout.

No one has pointed a finger at Jamarcus Russell's Oakland Raiders coaches; I will.

The Raiders passing offense is designed by two people: Ted Tollner as "Passing Game Coordinator", and Paul Hackett as "Quarterback Coach". Given that Hackett comes from the Bill Walsh tree of coaches, having served as his offensive assistant with the 49ers, the mistakes that are reflected in Russell's actions are correctable, but also questionable. They're not errors a Bill Walsh Offense team makes.

Let's start with the first obvious problem: the deep pass.

If one looks at any video of a Bill Walsh coached offensive team the one habit that's obvious is the use of "landmarks" on the field. In this case the hashmarks. By contrast, the Raiders don't use them.

In today's game in the third quarter, receiver Louis Murphy was open on a post route that Russell overthrew. Wildly. If Walsh were the coach, Louis Murphy would have ran his pattern to the near side hashmark, and Russell would have thrown to that hashmark yards downfield where Morton was to be.

Look at this video of the throws from Joe Montana to Jerry Rice when both were with the 49ers. I want you to pay attention to where Rice is running with respect to the hasmarks and where Montana throws the ball with respect to the hashmarks. Notice that Rice is always running to the near side hashmarks, and only once crossing them to the far side hashmarks on a post pattern, and that was in Super Bowl 24. This is repeated again and again, but the point is the hashmarks are used as an landmark. 



I want, not hope, but want the Raiders offensive coaches to watch that video over and over again, along with this next one. It features coach Walsh explaining the basic footwork involved in the basic three-step, five-step, and seven step passes. This is footwork and doesn't change with respect to formation. This is how the ball is delivered.



The poor passing stat from the Chiefs game is not Jamarcus Russell's fault. I contend that he's not well-coached in the art of throwing the ball on time, to a point, to achieve a completion. Part of this is footwork, the other part is play design as many of the plays don't allow a quick pass to the running backs.

The Raiders coaches are at fault for creating a passing system that's not kind to its quarterback and not properly teaching Russell how to throw the football.

Raiders beat Chiefs but Raiders coaches at fault for Jamarcus Russell's passing stats

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The Oakland Raiders beat the Kansas City Chiefs 13 to 10 in a game that the Silver and Black made enough big plays to win. The one negative was the 7 completion for 24 attempt passing stat for Jamarcus Russell, the Raiders star quarterback.

Jamarcus Russell

I've already heard a bunch of comments about Russell, all pointing to his need to throw better. On KPIX Channel Five Dennis O'Donnell (who;s a good guy by the way) said that this is Russell's third year in the league, but really his second because of his 2007 holdout.

No one has pointed a finger at Jamarcus Russell's Oakland Raiders coaches; I will.

The Raiders passing offense is designed by two people: Ted Tollner as "Passing Game Coordinator", and Paul Hackett as "Quarterback Coach". Given that Hackett comes from the Bill Walsh tree of coaches, having served as his offensive assistant with the 49ers, the mistakes that are reflected in Russell's actions are correctable, but also questionable. They're not errors a Bill Walsh Offense team makes.

Let's start with the first obvious problem: the deep pass.

If one looks at any video of a Bill Walsh coached offensive team the one habit that's obvious is the use of "landmarks" on the field. In this case the hashmarks. By contrast, the Raiders don't use them.

In today's game in the third quarter, receiver Louis Murphy was open on a post route that Russell overthrew. Wildly. If Walsh were the coach, Murphy would have ran his pattern to the near side hashmark, and Russell would have thrown to that hashmark yards downfield where Murphy was to be.

Look at this video of the throws from Joe Montana to Jerry Rice when both were with the 49ers. I want you to pay attention to where Rice is running with respect to the hasmarks and where Montana throws the ball with respect to the hashmarks. Notice that Rice is always running to the near side hashmarks, and only once crossing them to the far side hashmarks on a post pattern, and that was in Super Bowl 24. This is repeated again and again, but the point is the hashmarks are used as an landmark. 



I want, not hope, but want the Raiders offensive coaches to watch that video over and over again, along with this next one. It features coach Walsh explaining the basic footwork involved in the basic three-step, five-step, and seven step passes. This is footwork and doesn't change with respect to formation. This is how the ball is delivered.



The poor passing stat from the Chiefs game is not Jamarcus Russell's fault. I contend that he's not well-coached in the art of throwing the ball on time, to a point, to achieve a completion. Part of this is footwork, the other part is play design as many of the plays don't allow a quick pass to the running backs.

The Raiders coaches are at fault for creating a passing system that's not kind to its quarterback and not properly teaching Russell how to throw the football.

Michael Crabtree | Crabtree called "idiot" by ex-Patriot Rodney Harrison

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(Note: Michael Crabtree says that Deon Sanders is one of his mentors in my video above from this year's NFL Draft in New York. )

The latest opinion to come in regarding former Texas Tech wide receiver Michael Crabtree's decision to delay signing as the 10th pick in the NFL Draft with the San Francisco 49ers has the impact of a Rodney Harrison hit.

Crabtree should watch out for old #37

That should be no surprise as the comment comes from Rodney Harrison himself. It was reported just an hour ago before this blog that Harrison delivered the verbal hit while being interviewed on ESPN Radio in Philadelphia according to USA Today.

Harrison said:

"He's the biggest idiot I've ever see in the National Football League. I would have to put Ryan Leaf (Harrison's former teammate) and him as the two biggest idiots that ever played in the NFL... How coud you turn down close to $20 million guaranteed?"

Then Harrison basically teed-off on Crabtree on the former New England Patriot's Twitter page:

# I saw so many guys like a Ronnie Lott and such who never made this type of money and you're holding out for more then $20mil guaranteed?about 4 hours ago from web

# @Zach_Poole Then he should beat up his agent, because if he's not promising you that he will get you that #20mil next year, you're a fool.about 4 hours ago from web in reply to Zach_Poole

# If you want more money, play the rookie contract, and then get more money... prove you deserve it. You haven't done anything in the NFL yet.about 4 hours ago from web

# i don't know where gets his advices from but how can you turn down close to $20 million guaranteed?and you get it before even playing in NFLabout 4 hours ago from web

When I talked to Crabtree at the NFL Draft he told me that Deon Sanders was one of the people who mentors him. I wonder what PrimeTime's telling him to do now?

Stay tuned.

FRO's Results Rankings 2009 NFL Season Week 1 By Jon Wagner, Sr. Writer At-Large Football Reporters Online

FRO's Results Rankings
2009 NFL Season
Week 1
By Jon Wagner, Sr. Writer At-Large

While there are many power rankings out there based as much on hype, expectations, and sometimes unrealized projections, we here at FRO, prefer to rank NFL teams on what's actually happened, taking into account only how teams have performed on the field and who they’ve played. At FRO, you won’t find yet another power ranking that means little. Instead, here are FRO's Week 1 Results Rankings. Check back each week for new rankings!

#1 PHILADELPHIA EAGLES
Not much offensively, but the Eagles' defense ended their game in Carolina by halftime.

#2 NEW YORK JETS
Mark Sanchez had a solid debut, and Rex Ryan's relentless defense suffocated the Texans in Houston for four quarters.

#3 SEATTLE SEAHAWKS
The Rams provided a weak test, but when you win by 28 and you post a shutout in Week 1, you get a high ranking.

#4 PITTSBURGH STEELERS
The running game and red zone offense struggled, but the defense and Big Ben were clutch against a good Titans team.

#5 NEW ORLEANS SAINTS
Too many points allowed to a team like Detroit, especially at home, but Brees and the Saints' offense were stellar.

#6 MINNESOTA VIKINGS
A slow start in Cleveland, but Adrian Peterson and the Vikes' defense both eventually kicked it into high gear.

#7 ATLANTA FALCONS
The Falcons' defense came to play, forcing Miami into several costly miscues.

#8 DALLAS COWBOYS
Similar to the Vikings' win in Cleveland, a sluggish first half was followed up a much better second half in Tampa.

#9 NEW YORK GIANTS
It should have been easier after leading the Skins 17-0, but the Giants were good enough on both sides of the ball.

#10 BALTIMORE RAVENS
The Ravens let the Chiefs, especially without Cassel, hang around for too long… until Joe Flacco finished a big day.

#11 SAN FRANCISCO 49ERS
The 49ers served early notice that they intend to compete for the AFC West crown by opening with a win in the desert.

#12 GREEN BAY PACKERS
Aaron Rodgers was held in check until he threw a 50-yd game-winner, and the Pack harassed Jay Cutler into 4 picks and 2 sacks.

#13 TENNESSEE TITANS
A failed, but valiant effort by the Titans in a tough place like Steeltown has them ranked higher than others who won.

#14 NEW ENGLAND PATRIOTS
Only a Bills' fumble and late heroics by Tom Brady and Ben Watson kept the Pats from being ranked shockingly low.

#15 BUFFALO BILLS
The Bills battled the Pats well for about 55 minutes, before giving away a big AFC East tilt that they should have won.

#16 SAN DIEGO CHARGERS
The Chargers were unimpressive in victory, but they did show good resolve late, to avoid an upset in Oakland.

#17 INDIANPOLIS COLTS
As they often have to against the Jags, the Colts had to tough out a win, aided by a stopped two-pt. conversion.

#18 DENVER BRONCOS
Great defense slowed Cincinnati's passing game, but the Broncs still needed a heads-up miracle by Stokley to win.

#19 JACKSONVILLE JAGUARS
As they often do, a nice job giving the Colts fits, but the offensively challenged Jags could lose a lot of those.

#20 OAKLAND RAIDERS
The Raiders know how the Bills feel this week after nearly getting the upset… until Darrin Sproles scored with :18 left.

#21 CHICAGO BEARS
Staying with the theme, the Bears had a big divisional game won… until Aaron Rodgers and Greg Jennings spoiled it.

#22 ARIZONA CARDINALS
Another perfect AFC West record was not in the cards. A home loss to Frisco a bad way to open defense of an NFC title.

#23 KANSAS CITY CHIEFS
Great job to hang in against a tough Baltimore team without Matt Cassel, but still, a two-touchdown loss in the end.

#24 WASHINGTON REDSKINS
The Redskins made it a game late, but a 17-point hole and 4 turnovers too much to overcome at The Meadowlands.

#25 TAMPA BAY BUCCANEERS
In it for a half, the Bucs exposed the Cowboys’ D for 450 yds, but they were torched for 462 yds as Dallas pulled away.

#26 DETROIT LIONS
The Lions’ offense (27 pts) kept them alive in New Orleans for 3 quarters, but allowing 45 points and 515 yards? Ouch.

#27 CINCINNATI BENGALS
Though Cincinnati took a late and lost on a fluke play, Palmer and Ochocinco HAVE to score more than just 7 points.

#28 CLEVELAND BROWNS
Allowing 225 rushing yards (180 of them to the NFL’s best back) and just 268 yards of total offense spelled doom.

#29 MIAMI DOLPHINS
Too many mistakes with the football meant a lot of trouble early and often for the Fish in Atlanta.

#30 HOUSTON TEXANS
The Texans failed to make stops on key plays, and both O and D lines were physically dominated by the Jets all game.

#31 CAROLINA PANTHERS
Against the Eagles, Jake Delhome opened 2009 as mistake-prone as he ended 2008, in that playoff loss to Arizona.

#32 ST.LOUS RAMS
The Rams were outgained by 199 yards, lost by the largest margin, and were the only team that failed to score.