And now, it's once again time for America's favorite game...

WHO'S DUMBER!!!!!!

Today's contestant #1 is actually a group, or groups, as well as an individual: Our good friend Julian Ass ange and his obedient wiki-zombies. Let's take a look at some of today's hijinks:

The U.N.'s top human rights official raised the alarm over officials' and corporations' moves to cut off WikiLeaks' funding and starve it of server space -- something she described as a "potentially violating WikiLeaks' right to freedom of expression."

As if the wiki-zombie attack had anything to do with free speech. These "misguided zealots" (in quotations to indicate my efforts at politeness) have no problems with shutting down other people rights to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. They are like all hackers, a mass of self glorifying nitwits, wrapping themselves in a banner of nobility that just doesn't fit. And as if to underscore their complete uselessness, the UN is going to stand up for them. I wonder what would happen if Visa, AmEx, Paypal et al decided to break links with them as well.

Navi Pillay also expressed surprise at the scale of the online attacks that have targeted major American financial players -- in some cases denying access to their websites for hours at a time."It's truly what media would call a cyber-war. It's just astonishing what is happening," Pillay told reporters in Geneva.

Of course she's astonished. I'm sure anyone stupid enough to confuse cyberterrorism with free speech would be astonished at almost anything.

Meanwhile the flow of online support has also sparked some solidarity on the streets. A protest in Australia -- the first of a series planned there and in Britain -- sent about 250 demonstrators into the streets of Brisbane, while in the central Pakistani city of Multan, dozens of people took to the streets to burn U.S. and British flags to protest Assange's detention.

That's our Islamic allies for ya, ready to burn Old Glory anytime someone sneezes (ah... AHHH... AAAAALLAH-CHOOO!!!).

The hackers launched "Operation Payback” Tuesday -- a series of denial of service attacks (DDoS), after various groups blocked funding to the WikiLeaks site.

So our great defenders of free speech's logical response to the situation is to deny others (who may or may not have anything to do with the situation) their free speech rights.

The Swedish government's website was shut down for several hours overnight during a cyber attack, while a website bearing Justice Minister Beatrice Ask's name was set up and visitors were redirected to the WikiLeaks site, Sweden's Aftonbladet newspaper reported.

But what would we expect from a group who thinks that the best way to express their dislike of this nation's ideals is to hang thousands of soldiers (who are fighting-really fighting- for their free speech) out to dry.

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Contestant #2 is a trifecta- Redskins DL Albert Haynesworth, his agent, and the man who paid him all that money to be an idiot.
First, behold the man.

Simmering all year, the antagonism between Albert Haynesworth and Mike Shanahan finally reached the boiling point Tuesday when the two-time All-Pro defensive lineman was suspended by the Washington Redskins coach without pay for the rest of the season.

Citing a litany of acts that essentially add up to season-long insubordination, the Redskins suspended Haynesworth for ''conduct detrimental to the club'' and told him he's not welcome for the team's final four games - and making it extremely unlikely he will play for the club again.
''Despite the club's numerous attempts to persuade Albert Haynesworth to abide by the terms of his contract, he has repeatedly refused to cooperate with our coaching staff in a variety of ways over an extended period of time,'' Shanahan said in statement released by the team. ''Among other things, he has consistently indicated to our defensive coaches that he refuses to play in our base defense or on first-down or second-down nickel situations. He has also refused to follow the instructions of our coaches both during weekly practices and during actual games as well.
''Yesterday, when Albert was at Redskin Park, he told our general manager Bruce Allen that he (Haynesworth) would no longer speak with me. Although suspending any player is not a decision that a head coach enters into lightly, I believe the situation has reached the point where the club clearly has no alternative.''

Won't follow instructions, won't talk to the boss. How does that play at your job?

On to subcontestant #2:

Allen informed Haynesworth of the suspension, the maximum permitted under the league's collective bargaining agreement. Haynesworth's agent, Chad Speck, said his client will appeal. Speck chided the Redskins for not giving any prior formal notice that Haynesworth's behavior was in question.

How much "formal notice" is needed when something as public as Haynesworth's 2-year long mutiny is at question. Really?

Haynesworth skipped offseason workouts because he didn't want to play nose tackle in the 3-4 defense the new coaches were installing, preferring instead to play in a scheme that would showcase his talent and help achieve his goal of becoming ''the best defense tackle to ever play this game.'' Shanahan told Haynesworth to go find another team, contingent upon giving up a $21 million contract bonus due on April 1.
Haynesworth didn't want to give up that much money, so he stayed on the roster and remained disgruntled. He boycotted a mandatory minicamp, drawing a $10,000 fine and searing comments about being ''selfish'' from defensive captain London Fletcher. He became a league-wide punch line when he needed 10 days to pass a conditioning test at the start of training camp.

Which makes me wonder, Chad, to whose benefit Do you work? Your client's happiness or your own big fat commission?

Haynesworth's agent, however, said his client wants to play more and cited several statistics to argue that the Redskins defense has played better when Haynesworth is in the game.
''Albert has repeatedly asked for a bigger role in the defense,'' Speck said. ''He simply wants to play and maximize his contribution to the team. It is unfortunate that he has not been utilized more.''

Which he wouldn't be having a problem with if he was doing what the coaches asked of him. Funny how that works. Finally let's take a brief look at the third leaf of this luckless clover:

The suspension will cost him about $847,000 in salary, a mere trifle amid the $41 million guaranteed in the seven-year contract he signed with the Redskins as a free agent last year after seven seasons with the Tennessee Titans.
The player who infamously said ''You're not going to remember Albert Haynesworth as a bust'' on the day he signed the deal stands to become the biggest bust in Dan Snyder's 11 years as Redskins owner, quite an achievement considering the money overspent on underachievers such as Deion Sanders and Adam Archuleta.
By suspending Haynesworth instead of releasing him, the Redskins keep him from getting what he might have coveted - a chance to play for a contender late in the season. However, it seems almost certain that the Redskins will have to try to trade Haynesworth in the offseason, although his trade value will have plummeted because other teams know Shanahan won't want him back.

Yeah, good job that, Dan. Not to mention that greatest of all hiring decisions, the 2-year reign of unfortunate former coach Jim Zorn.

So, there you have it. I think, though, by the spirit of the game, the Haynesworth Combine win for me; outside of Ms. Pillay at the UN, the first group, to me, are more evil than dumb.

NHFFL playoffs round one.

The KCAs had rebounded from an early deficit on three TDs in about 5 minutes by Michael Turner, Michael Bush, and Pierre Garcon (who must have put a Cowboys jersey on for a play so Peyton (the Cape) Manning could find him) to take a 42-39 lead over the Clock BBQs into Monday night's Jets/Pats matchup. In the mean time, Buzz had been slowly, painfully fighting his way back from a 16-point Thursday deficit and just when he got close, there went Vernon Davis on a 60-something yard reception, and he found himself trailing 42-24 going into Monday Night. But fear not, for Buzz had Ladainian Thomlinson from the Jets, as well as Wes Welker from poor, outmatched New England. And the Clock BBQs only needed one score from a receiver on the league's widely proclaimed best team, that wideout being Santonio Holmes, the man whose hands would surely lift the Lombardi trophy high this coming February. No, KC had no reason to worry about his 2 teams, did he?

Then Jets coach Rex Ryan and Pats boss Bill Belechick, hugged each other a la Todd Haley and Josh McDaniels the day before. And laughed, no doubt because one of them had noted that McDaniels got his well deserved firing earlier that day, and hoping that one of them wouldn't get axed for hugging as well.

And then the J-E-T-S laid one of the most enjoyable eggs in recent sporting history, getting whupped 45-3 as Mark (the Savior) Sanchez threw three interceptions in just 6 third quarter passes. Three, as in all the Jets got was a field goal, and that was after missing one earlier.

Santonio Holmes? Sanchez had him in the endzone late in the game and threw it so far behind him it hit the man covering him in the arm. KCAs 42, Clock BBQs 39.

L.T.? He was thrown to on the next play. Had he caught it, he'd have scored. He seemed to stop dead, as if he thought the pass was going to a receiver in the end zone. It whizzed past his big green letters and hit a New England defender in the gut. However, Wes Welker did manage to score, after one of Sanchez' picks. Rhinos 42, Buzz Lightyears 30.

The KCAs now face Beagles/KCAs III; KCAs won the first 47-21, Scrappy the second, 48-23. These two teams have met in the playoffs once before, in the 2003 division championship, and the KCAs won that one (against Fred, though- Scrappy wasn't born yet) 73-28.

The Rhinos go into the all-Shenan semis against the T-Cubs, who won their meeting earlier this season 41-38. The win against Buzz was the Rhinos first playoff win, after 2 close losses in 2006 and 2007. The T-Cubs have an 11-2 playoff record and their name on the Super Bowl cup 4 times.

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I couldn't forgive myself if I didn't make fun of the Colts for signing Dominick Rhodes for the third time today. The cocky Colts, who thought they could make it through an NFL season with just 3 RBs on the roster have certainly learned a hard lesson. None of those 3 backs have been healthy for very long at a time, and 2 of them (particularly Donald (this sure ain't the Big East) Brown) have been, charitably, less than effective when they simulated healthiness. And now it's back to Rhodes, whose finest personal moment was defecating in an ex-gf's bedroom closet. I probably shouldn't pick on the poor homestaters, particularly since The Cape is mired in a 11 ints, 4 pick-sixes in the last 3 games slump; But what the hey, I've waited for moments like since the Irsays were still contentedly crunching crab cakes in some upscale Chesapeake Bay seafood place, why lay off now?

Don Meredith

Sometimes you just don't know what to say. I can say that there are damn few games that I've ever watched that I didn't sing, "Turn out the lights, the party's over" during. Often prematurely, I wasn't near as good at it as Don was. But as I watched tonight's halftime tribute, and watched Frank Gifford verge on breaking down, and heard Boomer croak through his following voiceover, I too felt that choking in my throat. And for that moment, my plea to God was, "When does this end? When does the dying end?"

I am an adult, though; I know that answer without God responding. I've posted a lot of famous people dying this year. Sparky Anderson. Ernie Harwell. Jimmy Dean. Fess Parker. Tom Bosley. Edwin Newman. Phil Harris. Barbara Billingsley. And there were some closer to home as well, that by and large I've kept to myself. Some of them big parts of life; some of them just flickering images on TV. And some of them both. And I also know that there are more to come. And this is when I feel the saddest for people like my friend Joshua, because I do not know how a person goes on with life when death is the only thing you're sure to accomplish. If I could not turn to my Creator for hope, nothing in life would have meaning. But the sun also rises on all of us, and we all manage somehow to go on.

Still, sometimes it seems you spend half your life collecting the people and memories that keep you warm, and half of life losing them and watching that life get colder by degrees.

God rest you, Don. The party just begins.

3And I heard a loud voice from the throne, saying, "Behold, the tabernacle of God is among men, and He will dwell among them, and they shall be His people, and God Himself will be among them,
4and He will wipe away every tear from their eyes; and there will no longer be any death; there will no longer be any mourning, or crying, or pain; the first things have passed away."
5And He who sits on the throne said, "Behold, I am making all things new " And He said, "Write, for these words are faithful and true." Rev.21:3-5

A little news and meaningless sports (or is it...)

First off, my opinion on Wiki-leaks and Julian Ass ange. If you have to blackmail the entire world just to keep your website open, you obviously are thought of as a blazing moron outside of your immediate circle and the scumbags like the guy "from a major bank" and the scuzz soldier (who'll hopefully spend the next 35 years or so rotting in a military brig for treason )who leak you your stuff. You'd think one of them might have leaked you a manual on how to have consensual sex where both parties consent. So, Mr. Ass ange, I say to you, go ahead! Release your "insurance files"! Not only will any blood spilled be on your uncaring head, and those of your dip$#it elite, but it will cement your legacy as the biggest unimportant a$$wipe in the history of mankind.

Rant #1 done, moving on. I was just looking at the college bowl situation, which was denuded of all suspense by yesterday's wins by Auburn and Oregon. Among the things that caught my eye was that of 35 (yes, 35) bowl games, I saw 7 that I did not recognize. The Military Bowl- which used to be the Eagle Bank Bowl, apparently. The Texas Bowl, which has been played in Houston since 2006, I guess below my personal radar. The Pinstripe Bowl, which is new this year and (not surprisingly) being played in Yankee Stadium, that bastion of football legend. The new Ticket City Bowl, which takes over the old Cotton Bowl site this year since the "Cotton Bowl Classic" moved to Jerry Jones' palace in Arlington. Their matchup is Texas Tech and Northwestern so I wonder if "Ticket City" isn't going to be a better after-the-game name for it. The Godaddy.com Bowl (which isn't a lingerie game featuring Danika Patrick) in Mobile, AL is the former GMAC Bowl, which of course dropped its sponsorship when it became the current Ally Bank. The BBVA Compass Bowl, just down I-65 in Birmingham, used to be the Pappajohns.com bowl before the sponsorship was taken over by BBVA, a Spanish bank whose America subsidiary, Compass, is in Birmingham. And finally the Kraft Fight-Hunger Bowl is the former Emerald Bowl set in the home of fruits and nuts, San Francisco. Also, I note that 35 bowls means 70 teams, out of the 120 in FBS. CBSSports top 70, updated this a.m., includes one losing team (Oregon State), who no doubt gets replaced in the bowl line up by the one team with a winning record that was not in the top 70, #82 Troy. Okay guys, no more bowls, we've got everybody.

On the FCS side of things, I got to watch most of the App State-Western Illinois game. To give you a brief idea, the App State QB at halftime had not thrown a pass but had 177 yards rushing and 2 tds. Final 42-14. App State goes on to play Villanova, who spotted SF Austin a 21-7 1st quarter lead and then outscored them 47-3 the rest of the way. Eastern Washington schnocked SE Missouri State 37-17, and move on to play North Dakota State, whose lead RB scored three times in the last 5 minutes and change, 28 4th quarter points total, to deflate Big Sky champ Montana State 42-17. Delaware gave Lehigh that expected beating (42-20) and move on to play CAA rival New Hampshire. They pasted Bethune-Cookman (who in 2 season ending losses, one of which I watched, looked more like Buffoon-Cookman) 45-14. The final second round bracket is headed by Wofford, who won the day's only close game, 17-14 against Jacksonville State. They draw Georgia Southern next week, after GaSo routed both William AND Mary 31-15. The triple option attack wore down the W&M defense, who gave up over 425 yards on the ground, while the offense was busy scoring no tds.

Finally, I'd like to announce the players on the NHFFL all-star teams. This years game will be a new thing to our league- a three-way game between the Purple, Gold, and Scarlet Divisions. The Purple will feature KCAs Phillip Rivers at qb, Michael Turner and Jahvid Best at RB, Desean Jackson at wr, kicker Rob Bironas, and the Arizona D; Ranger RB Darren McFadden; Beagle RB Maurice Jones-Drew; and SVAs wrs Antonio Gates, Roddy White, and Andre Johnson. The Gold will bring out Clock BBQs qb Drew Brees, rb Matt Forte, and k Sebastian Janikowski; T-Cubs rb Rashard Mendenhall, and wrs Dwayne Bowe, Greg Jennings, and Mike Wallace; B2s rbs Adrian Peterson, Peyton Hillis and NY Giants D; and Elks wr Hakeem Nicks. The Scarlet division has Ducks qb Aaron Rodgers, rb BenJarvis Green-Ellis, wrs Calvin Johnson and Braylon Edwards; Rhinos rb Arian Foster; Angels rb Chris Johnson and k David Akers; and Buzzers rb Knowshon Moreno, wrs Terrell Owens and Jeremy Macklin, and Green Bay D. Akers won the league's scoring championship with 104 points, followed by Janikowski with 99, Dan Carpenter of the Rhinos at 96, Nick Folk of the Elks at 90, Rodgers and Bowe at 87, Bironas and the Ducks' Neil Rackers at 85, Beagle reservist Adam Vinitieri at 84, and Rivers at 83. Foster was the highest rb at 81, tied for 11th.

The day of judgement according to wecanknow.com

A group of ministries combining to set up a website called wecanknow.com are coming out with a series of billboards claiming that the Rapture will occur May 21st, next year. You can find the story on the news, and their long and involved story is explained in their sister site, Latter Rain. Now, many people, as they admit, will bring up Matt. 24:36 to dispute this:

"No one knows about that day or hour, not even the angels in heaven, nor the Son, but only the Father."

Other well thought out sites will, as I found, debate how Jesus- and by implication, the Holy Spirit- could possibly be ignorant of this when He and the Father (and the Spirit) are one. This is sideways to the discussion I'm working on, so I'll briefly point out three things.
1. Jesus may well have been speaking as a human being, and not as the Divine Word. His human body, no matter the soul filling it, was created at some point, and the inclusion of the Angels in the clueless implies that the ban on knowledge extended to all created beings.
2. Jesus often mentioned the Father and Son relationship without the Spirit; perhaps He includes the person of the Spirit in the concept of the Father.
3. We are talking about God the Eternal here, and not a concept easily grasped then or now. What is impossible for man is possible for God.

Anyhow, that isn't how this group defends its ability to know. Rather, it takes an uncommon interpretation of verses like I Thess. 5:2-4:

2For you yourselves know full well that the day of the Lord will come just like a thief in the night.
3While they are saying, "Peace and safety!" then destruction will come upon them suddenly like labor pains upon a woman with child, and they will not escape.
4But you, brethren, are not in darkness, that the day would overtake you like a thief;

And thus saying that while the majority of mankind will be caught sleeping, the brethren (believers) would not be, because they were given the ability, as the day approaches, to figure the day out from clues in the scriptures.

Having looked at their site, I'd have to say that they do a really good job of figuring a Biblical timeline of what HAS happened. The only hole in their logic there that I saw is that they date creation from the moment of Adam's creation (which they figure a day for based on when God set the Jewish calendar from the time of the Exodus) and not from the Universe's creation, which by even their own standards could through all their calculations off anywhere from 5 days to 5,000 years. (Not to mention that Genesis gives you NO basis on figuring how long the world had been around PRIOR to God saying, "Let there be light!" ) Based on what is said on the Latter Rain site, they admit that a difference of only a few days would cause all their calculations to come crashing down; thus this point alone would be enough to derail them.

However, I believe that their real problem is that Paul's admonition in Thessalonians and the admonitions of Jesus that it echoes is merely saying, stay alert! Live your life as if the day is coming tomorrow. It does not break the clear teaching of Jesus that NO CREATED BEING is going to be able to calculate a future date, even with the complex, Dan Brown-like numerology that this group uses not only to call the Rapture on May of 2011, but the destruction of the earth just 5 months later. Thus, though I highly recommend the way that they built their timeline, even with its one big wart, I'd have to say (kindly) that their date prediction is based on a horribly flawed premise, and (bluntly) it is this kind of crazy crap that gives the followers of Christ a bad name. And with the nutjob in Florida, the Waynesboro "baptist church", and the flaws that even the best of us all have, We really don't need to further alienate with stupidity the people we are commissioned to draw to God with the Truth.

Moral of the story: Whether it is this group's "Judgement day is May 21, 2011" or the atheist's "you KNOW it's a myth" campaign, BE SMART- DON'T GET YOUR THEOLOGY FROM A BILLBOARD. Do you believe an ad just because it's on a billboard?

Step into my time machine week thirty-two

The name of the game is status quo this week, with not a lot of top ten movement, a big mover that's big move was so-so, only 3 debuts to speak of, and the strange story of the Singing Nun. Step in and mind the ceiling.





Ten songs debut on the hot hundred this week,but only three are all that noteworthy. At 92 is a song noteworthy because I know it and it is a pretty, mellow tune, called Blue Guitar and sung by Justin Hayward and John Lodge of the temporarily disbanded Moody Blues. If you like the Moodies at all, you will enjoy it. The other two both have the common thread of Olivia Newton-John. First at 69,we have the John Denver hit Fly Away (which I promise I'll tell you a funny story about when it hits the top 40) in which she sings backup; and the woman herself, who hits at 65 with Let It Shine. Our limpy big mover, coming up a mere 17 to #80 is the George Baker Selection with Paloma Blanca. The much bigger dropper is Leon Russell's Lady Blue, tumbling 33 notches to 75.





We're in the threes this week on the look at other years at #1. 1993 was topped this week by Meatloaf's I Would Do Anything For Love, which allegedly was #1 for six weeks; however, Cashbox was in its terminal decline already, and two of those six weeks were repeat charts. 1983 saw Lionel Ritchie was at #1 with the Thanksgiving song of '83, All Night Long. The top dog this week in 1973 was the Carpenters' Top Of The World, which was my favorite song through much of grade school due to my warped mind connecting it to a certain young lady. Now we get to 1963, and the top dog for the next 5 weeks was Dominique by a lady we called The Singing Nun, and the French-speaking world knew as Soeur Sourire, or "Sister Smile". She was, at the time, a real nun, from a monastery in Belgium, and thus this was the only Belgian act to hit #1 on the US charts. Lack of reward from her major hit and a pile of issues with the church including views on birth control and her budding lesbianism led her to renounce her vows and attempt (and fail) to build a music career on her own, finally running aground after an attempt at a disco version of Dominique. Saddled with debt and having rejected the Lord who might have helped her, the no-longer-singing no-longer-nun and her "partner" committed suicide by pills and booze on March 3rd, 1985. Sliding on up to 1953, the top dog was Tony Bennett with Rags To Riches.





On the subject of death, I recently learned that former ELO cellist Mike Edwards died a couple of months back in an appropriately unusual way- apparently his van was hit by a massive runaway roll of hay. That's him with the cello in happier times.

Coming into airplay alley this week are 5 tunes. Up 8 to enter at 39 is one of my all time favorites, Hamilton, Joe Frank, and "Reynolds" with Winners And Losers. Al Green comes in at 38, up 3, with a song which I didn't know and was surprised to find wasn't one of his usual Let's Stay Together clones. However, the tune, called Full Of Fire, didn't really stick with me in any other way either. ELO (wow, two mentions on one TM!) comes in at 37, up 14, with Evil Woman. Glen Campbell comes in with Country Boy (You Got Your Feet In LA), up 8 to #35. And coming up 12 spots to #34 is Fleetwood Mac with Over My Head. This is their first US top 40 hit, despite 5 top tens in the UK (which includes the instrumental Albatross, which hit #1 in '69 AND #2 in '73, as well as cracking their hot 100 again in 1990).

The almost but not quite this week goes to Willie Nelson, still getting high at the age of 77, with Blue Eyes Crying In The Rain. Despite a long career on the country side which had seen 15 top 40's and 2 top tens, this song gave him his first #1 country and first top forty pop. In a side note, this is the last song Elvis Presley was known to have sang before he died- make of that what you will. Blue Eyes peaks at 25 this week.

One song enters the top ten this week, one song exits- Natalie Cole's This Will Be, down from 9 to 19.

In our look at the #1 albums of the '70s, we are up to August of 1972. Chicago V, fueled by the pre-release of Saturday In The Park, hits #1 and stays for 9 weeks. This album featured Saturday ( another side note: the "Italian" that the man singing Italian songs sings are Italian sounding nonsense words. Urrgy Burrgy Burrgy.) which hit #3 as well as Dialogue Parts 1 & 2, which reached 24. Chicago V was followed in late October by Curtis Mayfield's Superfly soundtrack. The album, dealing with social issues such as drug dealing and race relations, was much more serious that the movie, and was compared favorably to Marvin Gaye's What's Going On. It had two hit singles- Freddie's Dead, which hit #4 pop and #2 soul, and the title track, which hit #8 pop and #5 soul. On November 18 it was replaced by Cat Stevens' Catch Bull At 4. The unusual name comes from the Ten Bulls of Zen, which (without trying to go too in-depth) are symbolic steps in the path on a Zen follower. Despite the fact that its only single was Sitting, which hit #16 ( and perhaps with a little boost from the relationship he was pursuing with Carly Simon, who wrote Anticipation with him in mind), it was an extremely fast seller going gold in just 15 days. It would hold the top spot into early December.

The top ten this week leads off with Barry Manilow climbing 3 to #10 with I Write The Songs. Dropping from 6 to 9 are the Captain and Tenille with The Way That I Want To Touch You. Up from 10 to 8 is Jigsaw with Sky High. Holding at 7 this week is Simon And Garfunkel with My Little Town. At #6, up 2, are the Bay City Rollers with Saturday Night. Elton John tumbles 2 to #5 with former top dog Island Girl. The Bee Gees move up one to #4 with Nights On Broadway. The Staple Singers edge up one to #3 with Let's Do It Again. Holding at 2 is former top dog Silver Convention with Fly Robin Fly. Which means KC and the Sunshine Band hold onto the top for a second straight week with That's The Way I Like It.

That's all for this week. Thanks for riding along!

NHFFL last week, FCS playoffs, and the Johnson/Finnegan bout

The season finale of the NHFFL concluded last night, and it will be the T-Cubs and the Fiery Beagles getting a week off while the other playoff teams fight for the privilege to challenge them. The T-Cubs ripped the Clock BBQs 56-22 behind 4 td passes by Jay Cutler- no lie- and 3 scores by Dwayne Bowe. The Beagles punch their ticket with a 40-33 win over the Angels, their 6th straight, while the KCAs were falling to Buzz 38-10. The Beagles got 27 of their 40 on Thanksgiving Day ( 15 from Tom Brady and 12 from Chris Ivory). The win and KCAs loss gives them the Purple Div. championship and the #2 seed. Buzz wins his division and takes the #3 seed with their win, highlighted again by Turkey points- 2 tds from Wes Welker. The KCAs get the #5 seed and will play the #4 Clock BBQs. The Rhinos solidified their #6 seed with a 29-28 win over fellow Shenanite SVA. Once again kicker Dan Carpenter was the big star for the Rhinos with 16 points. In non-playoff crucial matches, the State Ducks pass the Angels for third in the Scarlet division with a 51-21 win over the Rangers. Brandon Lloyd and BenJarvis Green-Ellis each got 2 tds for the Ducks; the Rangers lose their last 5 to finish 3-9. And finally, it was the B2s taking third in the Gold div. with a 57-19 rout of the Elks. The Elks lost Clinton Portis yet again for this game and finish 5-0 when he played and 0-7 when he didn't. Portis' total contribution to Elk scoring for the year? 12 points. Go figure. Peyton Hillis yet again led the B2s' charge with 3 tds.

<

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PURPLE	W	L	PF	PA	RP
Fiery Beagles	8	4	401	423	570-7th
KCAs	7	5	485	414	759-3rd
SVA	5	7	428	431	482-9th
Rangers	3	9	335	503	178-12th
GOLD
T-Cubs	9	3	524	384	887-1st
CBBQs	7	5	465	427	629-4th
B2s	5	7	450	478	505-8th
Elks	5	7	466	496	460-10th
SCARLET
Buzz Lightyears	7	5	493	431	693-3rd
Ragin'Rhinos	7	5	458	452	576-6th
State Ducks	5	7	499	465	605-5th
Arden's Angels	4	8	419	574	185-11th

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Speaking of playoffs, here's a brief look at the FCS playoffs. Western Illinois scored with less than 2 minutes left and blocked a nearly last second attempt to tie to top Coastal Carolina 17-10. They play #1 seed App State Saturday. North Dakota State showed they could win in blowouts as well as 3-0 games by ripping Robert Morris 43-17. They go on to face #4 seed Montana State. Lehigh greatly disappointed me by tipping Northern Iowa 14-7. On the bright side, I won't accidentily call the Iowans "Northern Ireland" again till next year. The Patriot league champs get a second chance at getting really clobbered when they play #3 seed Delaware Saturday. Finally, Georgia Southern overcame 4 turnovers and 2 missed extra points, as well as losing their qb early in the game, and ripped South Carolina State 41-16. Their reward is to play #2 seed William AND Mary next. Also up this weekend are second round matches between Villanova and SF Austin, #5 seed Eastern Washington and SE Missouri State, Bethune-Cookman and New Hampshire, and Wofford and Jacksonville State.

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Finally, I have a few things to say about the NFL's decision not to suspend Houston wideout Andre Johnson and Tennesee df Courtland Finnegan. I truly believe that the ONLY reason that they get to play this coming week is because Titans coach Jeff Fisher is a highly regarded member of the rules committee and a friend of Commissioner Roger Goodell. Favioritism towards Fisher is what keeps one of the dirtiest teams in the NFL from being overloaded by penalties and fines/ suspensions. Johnson got the blessing of not being able to suspend one and not the other. I really tire of the NFLs favoritism towards the teams and players that they want to pimp. New England gets every call and has for years. Peyton Manning says a cross word and gets rules modified this preseason, and his teflon butt can slide any distance he requires. And now, bring on the (let's give them a hand at winning this year's super bowl) Jets. Hines Ward and Troy Palomalu were right. Brady and Manning, and now Sanchez, get league breaks no one else can touch. I think it would be funny if some really big scandal would touch these sacred cows. See Manning get busted for selling pot or Brady having an affair with Tiger Woods' mistress and get into a fight. Or better yet, Jeff Fisher taking candy from a baby or somesuch. It would be fun to see how long it takes for the league to send Tony (one touch and they're a saint) Dungy to pick up the pieces and rehabilitate them.

Okay, deep breath. I really don't want all those, or any other, bad things to happen to them. Except maybe Sanchez. But it would be nice if the league would cease such blatent favoring of their little buddies.

Oh, and Jeff? I promise I won't text you an apology.