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Iowa State University researcher James Hollis says try eating more soup this season to help keep the weight off.
A new study led by Hollis found that eating soup more frequently may reduce the likelihood of overeating.
Hollis found that Americans who eat soup are less likely to be overweight. He said soup has the ability to make eaters feel fuller longer.
"Soup is a satiating food," Hollis said in a news release. "Accordingly, these findings suggest that increased soup consumption can help manage body weight."
Hollis said the study doesn't establish a causal relationship between soup consumption and obesity, but future studies may be able to.


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|I once slid under a parked van while riding my pink Huffy. I don't think you could do that on this bike. Image from here.
My dermatologist has some other suspicions about my health and is having me evaluated by a rheumatologist on my 27th birthday. Nothing rings in another year older better than an arthritis evaluation. I'm keeping my fingers crossed that they find nothing, but it is yet another mark on my "You Know You're Approaching Senior Citizenship When…" checklist.
My mom brought up a good point though – she said "You're only as old as you feel, and if you keep convincing yourself you're old, you're going to start feeling it too. So quit it! Just focus on healing your hip and let that be the end of it."
She always was the voice of reason. Except for this one time.
My inner-fat kid has now hijacked the rest of this post:
Since mobility has been limited, I've attempted to improve my diet. Attempted is the key word in that sentence. My attempts keep getting foiled by sweets. I was doing well until I made the decision to bake pumpkin cookies with browned butter frosting over the weekend. It became dinner one night, and after sneaking him a bite, Bowser is now addicted as well. Boyfriend was in LA at a big nerd fest, so he was unable to cook for me like usual (I know – I totally lucked out with a cooking bf). I'm pretty much a disaster in the kitchen if whatever I'm attempting to cook doesn't call for at least one cup of sugar. And that's why my meals consisted of fruity pebbles and beef jerky before Boyfriend and I moved in together.
Yesterday, I kept telling myself, "Today is the day! I'm going to eat an apple and not candy." And then my department got pumpkin pie for my upcoming birthday. And you KNOW I don't even try to resist pumpkin pie. Girl, are you crazy? Who turns down a piece of pumpkin pie?
Today I've been eating healthy, despite stopping by the store after work so I could get all the ingredients to make these pumpkin muffins (Don't hate - I can't let my can of pumpkin go to waste, okay?) YUM. I'm going to bring them into work though so they're not laying around my house. I'll only eat one…okay two max.
Sticks and stones may break my bones, but stationary bikes and sweets will always bring me joy.

subset: commoncrawl


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He is a free agent this summer. He can shoot the three (averages up around 40% over the last 3 yrs) and plays the 2. I also like his size at the SG position as I think we need some more length to help on D. He could be picked up for not too much money (I wouldn't think). It would fill some holes and needs.
What do ppl think?


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Video shows spread of flames through fridge
The London Fire Brigade have released a video of tests on a piece from the back of a fridge to show how quickly fire spreads though it:
The London Fire Brigade have released a video of tests on a piece from the back of a fridge to show how quickly fire spreads though it:
– London Fire Brigade deputy commissioner Rita Dexter
Unfortunately, on rare occasions problems do occur and the result can be a big fire with potentially tragic consequences. This is why it's so important to make sure that if a fire involving a fridge or freezer does start, it doesn't spread.London Fire Brigade wants to see tougher standards so that the highly flammable insulation in fridges and freezers is better protected from fire. In the meantime, our advice is that if people notice any strange noises coming from their fridge or freezer, they should call the manufacturer or an electrical repair expert immediately.
Fridges and freezers built in recent years contain more plastic than older models, but the highly flammable insulation is not separated from the parts of the appliance where a fire can start, according to an LFB report.
A comparison between the UK and the US, where safety standards are more stringent, found that people in the UK involved in such a fire were more likely to be injured.
Figures for the UK suggested that one in every five fires involving fridges or freezers resulted in someone being injured, compared with one injury for every 25 fires in the US.
There are an average of 336 fires involving fridges or freezers in the UK each year, injuring 69 people.The LFB said it wanted to see tougher safety standards for the flammable insulation.
Modern fridges and freezers are the most dangerous household appliance in a blaze, a fire service said as it called for tougher safety standards.
The London Fire Brigade (LFB) said fridges and freezers were of particular concern because they contain large amounts of plastic and highly flammable insulation, which can cause large fires that spread quickly with highly toxic gases.
The LFB's report into blazes started by electricity or in electrical appliances follows a fire in Neasden, north London, last year that began behind a chest freezer and resulted in the deaths of six people.


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Suns GM Ryan McDonough: 'It's an insult' to think we can't have success outside the lottery
Originally published: Nov 13, 2013 - 11:18 pm
Duke small forward Jabari Parker showed off his smooth touch (27 points on 9-of-18 shooting) and versatility (nine rebounds). Kansas shooting guard Andrew Wiggins illustrated his rare athleticism an ability to finish in transition (22 points and 10 rebounds). And Kentucky power forward Julius Randle proved that with a little seasoning and experience, he has a terrific chance of being a physical terror (27 points and 13 rebounds) at the next level.
It was only one night, but the freshmen trio did nothing but enhance their value as they make what will likely be a collective leap into the professional ranks at season's end.
This summer, it seemed like a far gone conclusion that all three would be on the Suns' radar given the team's public acknowledgement that the 2013-14 season would represent the first stage in a necessary rebuilding project.
The organization hired a new head coach, a new general manager, several new assistant coaches and parted ways with several talented assets -- Caron Butler, Jared Dudley, Luis Scola and Marcin Gortat -- with an eye towards igniting the future.
But through the first eight games, however, the future might be just a little bit closer for the Suns than they had initially expected.
Talks of tanking have been pushed aside in the wake of the team's unexpected 5-3 start, and the idea of having as many as four selections in the upcoming draft doesn't seem as appealing if players like Parker, Randle and Wiggins aren't still there for the taking.
Suns general manager Ryan McDonough took in the college basketball showcase at the United Center Tuesday night. And while he did admit that he came away from the doubleheader quite impressed with the quality of play overall, McDonough said Phoenix can still prosper in June's draft even if it finds itself outside the top 5.
"One of the reasons I'm here and one of the reasons we had great success in Boston was because of our success outside of the lottery," McDonough told Arizona Sports 620's Burns and Gambo. "Is it easier to be picking in the top 5? Sure. But in some ways it's an insult to myself and my staff to think we can't [have success in the draft] without a top 5 pick, that we can't have success outside of the lottery.
"If we do make the playoffs and are picking outside of the lottery, then that means our young players are pretty good. We have one of the youngest rosters, certainly one of the youngest rotations in the league. If Eric Bledsoe, Miles Plumlee, the Morris twins, Archie Goodwin and hopefully we get Alex Len back soon, if those guys all play well then that's great. I'd rather take my chances with those five or six guys going forward than putting all my eggs in one basket hoping one guy in the lottery is really good."
While the upcoming draft will unquestionably be stacked at the top, McDonough noted that quality players will likely be available regardless of the spot teams are picking from.
"This draft, I mean obviously we won't know until May exactly who's in it as far as which underclassmen are coming out, the depth is impressive," said McDonough. "That's one of the reasons we wanted to stockpile as many picks as we possibly could. Now, we have potentially four in the first round.
"There won't just be two, three, four or however many good players in this draft. And the other thing I want to say is that it's not always a linear progression. There's been no draft in NBA history where the first pick is the best player, the second pick is the second best player and so on. It doesn't work that way and it never has. If you go back and look at pretty much every drafts, there have are good players taken outside the top 5, outside the top 10 and a lot of the time and most of the time out of the lottery."
The NBA season hasn't even reached December yet, so it's frivolous to speculate where the Suns will land -- be it in the playoffs, the lottery or the top 5. With that said, it appears at the very least like McDonough has a plan regardless of which outcome eventually plays out.
Dave Dulberg, Web Content Editor - ArizonaSports.com
- Suns' Dragic leads Slovenia to Group D win over Mexico at FIBA World Cup
- Suns guard Goran Dragic leads Slovenians to win in World Cup opener
- Phoenix Suns launch a social media campaign to find new fan models
- Former Phoenix Suns guard Leandro Barbosa signs with the Golden State Warriors
- Suns guard Goran Dragic limited as Slovenia routed by United States in World Cup exhibition
- Lionel Hollins, head coach Brooklyn Nets - Wednesday August 27The head coach of the Brooklyn Nets joins Doug & Wolf for the ASU Sun Devil Fork Report.
- Kirk Gibson, D-backs manager - Tuesday August 26D-backs manager Kirk Gibson discusses possible changes to a six-man rotation.
- Paul Coro - azcentral sports Suns writer - Tuesday August 26Paul Coro discusses Eric Bledsoe still being a restricted free agent.
- Chris Sheridan- sheridanhoops.com - Tuesday August 19Chris Sheridan believes there is one team that could easily make a max contract offer to Eric Bledso
- Who impressed/who depressed - Monday August 18Dan and Vince look back at who impressed and depressed them over the weekend.


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Paul Goldschmidt broke out of a slump with two hits and two RBIs to help the Arizona Diamondbacks beat the San Francisco Giants 4-2 on Thursday night.
Martin Prado and Aaron Hill also drove in runs for the Diamondbacks, who won their second straight after losing five of their previous six. Miguel Montero added two hits.
Pablo Sandoval had two hits and drove in a run for the Giants, who have lost three of four. Hector Sanchez also drove in a run and Brandon Belt had two hits.
Trevor Cahill (6-10) won his third straight decision since coming off the disabled list. He allowed two runs and six hits in five innings.
Ryan Vogelsong (3-5) lost for the first time since since May 15, though he missed 69 games with a fractured right hand. He gave up four runs and eight hits over 4 2-3 innings.
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One of Waynesboro's most heavily traveled bridges is closed. Traffic is detoured while contractors work on the aging structure, but they're not replacing the bridge just yet.
It's going to cost about $8.5 million to replace the Main Street Bridge over the South River in downtown Waynesboro. The Virginia Department of Transportation has set aside only about a fourth of that money. But the project is still in the early design phase, and construction won't happen till 2015.
Contractors are working on the bridge this week. Their geotechnical work means drilling up to 200 feet below ground to test the bedrock.
The findings will help engineers design a new bridge and the supporting pilings. The clock is ticking on the current bridge - which dates back to 1934 - and earned a "poor" rating in the most recent inspection.
Waynesboro Assistant City Manager Jim Shaw stated, "There's a fair list of items of deterioration, whether that be concrete that's deteriorating or there are a number of parts to a metal bridge that are corroding on this bridge. We have to come up with a program for replacement."
Shaw says the Main Street Bridge is not an imminent danger, but its "poor" rating means it should be replaced within five to seven years.
The new bridge will come with sidewalks and perhaps bike lanes. It should also be designed with streetscape features because it's only one block from downtown Waynesboro, and serves as a major gateway.


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If you have great ambitions for your event, choose an ambitious venue: the Gran
Salone Hotel Villa Michelangelo. The largest single space in the entire Villa,
the Gran Salone will immediately strike you with the natural elegance of its spaces
and the delicate colours that grace it. The lighting has been very carefully studied and it offers wonderful views over
the garden. Composed of three adjoining halls, the Gran Salone is very flexible
and, together with the set-up service provided by our expert staff, it can be
turned into the ideal venue for just about any event from large business gatherings
to important receptions.
The Gran Salone has a surface area of 400m², can host up to 300 guests and is composed of three communicating halls, all featuring natural light. It can be equipped with audio-visual equipment, microphone with speakers and a PC projector.


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Happy FlowerPublished on October 3, 2010. Played 966 times.
If the game you are trying to play is not working, browse our Help / FAQ page.
Happy Flower Game will put you in the middle of the flower industry! Seed and harvest your own flowers, wrap them into various bouqettes and sell them to your customers. Learn new secrets, upgrade your garden and try to become the best flower shop in town!
Category: Simulation


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Spurs fans 'worried' about match tonight
Lifelong Spurs fan Colin McAteer, 59, from Harlow, Essex, spoke of the atmosphere surrounding tonight's match:
It is a bit of a worry, when it starts getting dark... there are some coaches going up to the stadium, but what protection we'll have I don't know.
We have heard stories that we are going to get picked off when we cross the bridge to the stadium.
If you go in a group, it may be safer but then you draw attention to yourself.
At least that way you are wrapped up by the police... It's a bad time here. We are all completely shocked.
Tottenham reposted travel advice to fans attending the game today.


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In his 1829 pamphlet,
Solomon refers to this as "a night vision." He "descended
down to the regions of the damned" and sees "them blowing
up the flames and preparing red hot iron to lay their faces on to
all eternity."
Solomon trembles, "but to my great joy and surprise a man came to
me and said, you may go back to yonder world and have one year longer
to prepare." A Sketch of the Experience of Solomon Chamberlin, to Which Is Added a Remarkable Revelation, or Trance, of His Father-in-Law Philip Haskins: How His Soul Actually Left His Body and Was Guided by a Holy Angel to Eternal Daym Solomon Chamberlin (Lyons, New York; n.p., 1829). Perhaps the only copy extant is in Special Collections, Harold B. Lee Library, Brigham Young University. The complete text is included Larry C. Porter's, "Solomon Chamberlin's Missing Pamphlet: Dreams, Visions, and Anglic Ministrants," BYU Studies vol. 37 no. 2 (1997-1998), 113-140.


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Hospice volunteers are unpaid workers who have donated their time and resources to support hospice patients, caregivers, and staff. They are an essential part of a well-run hospice program -- so essential in fact that hospice agencies receiving Medicare or Medicaid funding have to prove that at least 5% of hospice work is being done by volunteers in order to be paid. Hospice volunteers may do a number of important tasks that range from assisting in office work to vigiling at a dying patient's bed side.
Hospice volunteers find themselves privy to confidential patient information and are involved with patients and their loved ones during a most personal and vulnerable time in their lives. For this reason, hospice volunteers must go through extensive orientation and training to prepare them for the often difficult, and always rewarding, work they will do. Most hospice agencies provide this training for volunteers which is typically 20 to 30 hours spread out over several weeks. The training helps volunteers develop the communication skills necessary to comfort and support patients and families, and explains the emotional and spiritual needs of patients at the end of life.
A hospice volunteer typically dedicates four hours a week to a hospice agency but most agencies are flexible with volunteer hours. Because a hospice agency spends significant time and money to train their volunteers, they generally like to get a one year commitment from volunteers. For more information on what jobs a hospice volunteer may do, please see "What is a Hospice Volunteer".
If you think you have the time and skills needed to be a hospice volunteer, follow these 5 steps to get started:
- Do a self evaluation - how much time do you have to dedicate? What skills do you have that would be most useful to dying patients and their loved ones?
- Choose a hospice agency that you would like to volunteer for. Not all hospices are created equal! Follow the same principles that patients and families should follow when choosing a hospice agency. Please see "Tips for Choosing a Hospice Agency" for more information.
- Contact the hospice agency you've chosen and inquire about hospice volunteer training.
- Attend volunteer training and orientation.
- Use those wonderful talents and skills to help people when they need it most!


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Have a Heart...Be a Mentor!
ODU's Peer Educator Program is looking for 100 volunteer mentors to join our team. If you are interested in helping other people achieve their academic goals while enriching yourself as a student, then this is the right program for you!!
We are having a social to introduce prospective mentors to new mentees. Come join the fun and meet new people. This is an opportunity for you to help others so let's mingle, mentor, and make a difference!!
Please see flyer for more details.
Have a Heart.pdf (352.9 KB)
Posted By: Wallace Turner
Date: Wed Feb 06 13:22:56 EST 2013


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The Northern Virginia Workforce Investment Board is a team of private and public sector partners who share a common goal-promoting the economic prosperity and long-term growth of Northern Virginia.
Our mission is to advance an integrated, highly responsive workforce investment system that gives businesses and job seekers the tools they need to stay competitive in today's global marketplace. Broadly speaking, this means:
Equipping businesses with the skilled workers, up-to-the-minute labor market information, and inside resources that help them work smarter and build their bottom lines.
Providing job seekers with the skills training, self-exploration tools, and job search resources that put rewarding, sustaining careers well within their reach.
Giving youth the opportunities for self-assessment, career exploration, and hands-on work experience.
Helping entrepreneurs with knowledge and resources to start new enterprises and expand existing ones.
Attracting new businesses to our thriving three county and four city region.


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Christmas Eve is upon us and for many of you that means traveling to family gatherings and celebrations. However, before you hit the road local law enforcement officials are urging you to be extra careful. Police from both sides of the river tell us they are cracking down on unsafe drivers Illinois state police, Iowa state police, and county officers have been out in full force making sure drivers are obeying the law. They say with the increased traffic, icy road conditions, and more people drinking, holiday travel can be a dangerous combination.
"It just adds to the possibility of a horrible situation such as a crash," said Sergeant Randy Heisch, Rock Island County Sheriff's Department.
Heisch says that is why he and other Rock Island County deputies are out on the roads, keeping holiday drivers in check.
"We try to keep our man power up and really kind of set a presence where people out there are seeing the squad cars, seeing the officers."
He says because there is no court Monday, there are more patrols than usual spanning across the entire county.
"All the way from the Muscatine bridge to Cordova, throughout the cities."
He says even though the big snow storm has passed, it is still affecting drivers. He says deputies have already responded to several accidents.
"Even though the roads have been cleared, there are still areas that are slick. There are areas that will be slicker when it gets later at night. Also a lot of people driving on the roadways have children in the car. It is a distraction with driving, have to maintain focus on the roadway because with everybody in the car, doing that makes it much more dangerous than a typical day."
Another increased danger on Christmas Eve? Drinking and driving. Both Illinois and Iowa state police have been cracking down all month long and Heisch says his deputies will be doing the same.
"Have a designated driver and if you do feel like you have had too much of an alcoholic beverage stay where you are at."
805 Brady Street, Davenport, IA 52803
Telephone: 563.383.7000
Fax: 563.383.7131
Email: firstname.lastname@example.com


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- • Sydney's doll hospital: 3 generations of doll - 08.25
- • Deadly landslides hit Japan - 08.22
- • 2014 Summer Youth Olympic Games - 08.20
|August 27, 2014
Tomatina 2014
Overripe tomatoes were hurled in a massive red food fight today in the town of Bunol, Spain. The La Tomatina festival -- held each year on the last Wednesday of August -- evolved from a street fight in the 1940s when a group of young men who wanted to participate in the "gigantes y cabezudos" parade used tomatoes from a vegetable stand as weapons. An estimated 22,000 people showed up this year for the food fight. --Lloyd Young (13 photos total)
|August 25, 2014
Sydney's doll hospital: 3 generations of doll repair
Sydney's Doll Hospital has worked on millions of dolls, teddy bears and other toys since it opened in 1913. "Doll surgeons" transplant fingers, toes and heads, and repair broken eye sockets. The company has been handed down from three generations of the Chapman family. --Thea Breite (16 photos total)
|August 22, 2014
Deadly landslides hit Japan
Dozens of people, including children, were killed in Japan when destructive landslides hit Hiroshima. Triggered by torrential rains, the landslide buried people alive as they slept in their homes. The search for survivors in the mud-ravaged hillside continues as over 50 people are feared missing. --Leanne Burden Seidel (26 photos total)
|August 20, 2014
2014 Summer Youth Olympic Games
Young athletes from around the globe are competing in more than two dozen events in Nanjing, China. The event created by the International Olympic Committee includes traditional opening and closing ceremonies that wrap up on Aug. 28. Many of these same competitors will be vying for spots to represent their countries in Brazil at the 2016 Summer Olympics. --Lloyd Young (25 photos total)
|August 18, 2014
Pope Francis in South Korea
Pope Francis wrapped up the first papal visit to Asia in 15 years, urging the divided Koreas to reject suspicion and confrontation and unite as "one family, one people." Francis spent five days in South Korea, meeting some of the country's five million Catholics. Note: if you're interested in the Pope, please check out our upcoming sister site, Crux: Covering all things Catholic. --Thea Breite (23 photos total)
|August 16, 2014
Ferguson Protests
There have been a week of protests, some peaceful and some violent, since the shooting death of Michael Brown, an unarmed black teenager by a white police officer in Ferguson, Mo. The unrest prompted Governor Jay Nixon to declare a state of emergency on Saturday an implement a curfew in the St. Louis suburb. Tensions had flared Friday after police released the name of the officer who fatally shot Brown and named the teen as a suspect in a convenience store robbery that occurred shortly before he was shot. --Lloyd Young (25 photos total)
Demonstrators raise their hands and chant "hands up, don't shoot" during a protest over the killing of Michael Brown on Aug. 12 in Clayton, Mo. Some reports state that Brown hand his hands in the air when he was shot and killed by a police officer on Saturday in suburban Ferguson, Mo. Two days of unrest including rioting and looting have followed the shooting in Ferguson. Browns parents have publicly asked for order. (Scott Olson/Getty Images)
|August 11, 2014
Supermoon photographs from around the world
Theres something about moons and photographers. So when supermoons appear, it tends to bring out the best of them from all over the world, scoping out the best location to make a dramatic photograph. A supermoon occurs when the moon, which orbits Earth in a slightly elliptical trajectory, is at the absolute closest it can get while also being full. Yesterdays supermoon did not disappoint. --Thea Breite (15 photos total)
|August 5, 2014
Daily life: July 2014
A look at selection of images depicting daily life around the world in the month of July. --Leanne Burden Seidel (26 photos total)
|August 4, 2014
Ebola continues to spread in West Africa
The World Health Organization is reporting 887 deaths from the worst outbreak of the Ebola virus in history. A man with Ebola-like symptoms who had recently been to West Africa went to the emergency room at the Mount Sinai Hospital in Manhattan on Sunday and a nurse who treated Ebola victims will be the second American flown in a specially outfitted plane from Liberia to be treated for the virus. Emory University Hospital in Atlanta is expecting her to arrive on Tuesday. Kent Brantly, a doctor on her team is also being treated there. --Thea Breite (14 photos total)
|July 25, 2014
Conflict continues in Gaza
The conflict in the Mideast has intensified in the last month with turbulent fighting in Gaza strip. Over 800 Palestinians have been killed and over 5,000 injured, according to Palestinan health officials. World leaders have been working on a truce between Hamas and Israel to end the bloodshed. --Leanne Burden Seidel (36 photos total)
Smoke and flames are seen following what police said was an Israeli air strike in Rafah in the southern Gaza Strip July 8. Israel bombarded dozens of targets in the Gaza Strip on, stepping up what it said might become a long-term offensive against Islamist Hamas after a surge in Palestinian rocket attacks on Israeli towns. (Ibraheem Abu Mustafa/Reuters)


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Romantic Tchaikovsky
Presented by Marcus Center for the Performing Arts
Location: Uihlein Hall
Multiple performances - view Schedule
Website: Visit Website
Tickets: Buy Tickets Online
View User Comments and Reactions
Rossen Milanov, conductor
John Lill, piano
William Bolcom - Commedia for (Almost) 18th Century Orchestra
Tchaikovsky - Piano Concerto No. 1
Stravinsky - Petrouchka (1947)
"Worthless," declared the composer's friends. "Impossible to play." But Tchaikovsky refused to change a note of what became history's most romantic and popular piano concerto. John Lill plays Tchaikovsky's First Piano Concerto. And Rossen Milanov leads music by another Russian master Stravinsky's colorful music for the ballet "Petrushka".
Don't miss Behind the Notes, our free pre-concert chat about the program and guest artists. Behind the Notes begins one hour before the concert in Anello Atrium.
Marcus Center for the Performing Arts
Milwaukee, WI 53202
Website: Visit Website
[ Map | Buy Tickets ]
Nearby Dining / Nightlife
779 N. Front St.
Milwaukee 414/271-2007
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106 W. Wells Street
Milwaukee 414/273-7678
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761 N. Water St
Milwaukee 414/220-9300
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823 N. 2nd St.
Milwaukee 414/276-4181
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740 N. Plankington Ave
Milwaukee 414/276-3030
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720 N. Plankinton Ave
Milwaukee 414/272-0720
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838 N. Old World Third St.
Milwaukee 414/224-7076
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Gegard Mousasi informed Fanhouse that his next fight will take place under K-1 Rules at Dynamite on New Years Eve in Japan.
Mousasi also tells fan house that his contract with Strike Force will only allow him to compete on cards that fellow M-1 fighter and Friend, Fedor competes on. Mousasi says, "So when he fights, I will fight too. But sooner would be also be fine by me."
Since Fedor wont be fighting in the immediate future, Gegard is taking a fight under K-1 rules at dynamite to stay busy in the meantime. Gegard is (1-0) under K-1 rules.


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NBA Playoff Memes celebrate the five stories everyone is buzzing about after each day of the 2011 NBA Playoffs. In Thursday's No. 2, we discuss Derrick Rose's clutchness again, which made everyone forget just how horrendously he played.
The Derrick Rose Clutch Bot (TM) nearly malfunctioned last night, as the Pacers played the Chicago Bulls tough for a third straight game. Luckily for Chicago fans, it turned on at the very end, when Rose gave the Bulls the lead with one of his patented hard drives to the basket. The lefty layup was so Derrick Rose, in that the world continues to believe there is absolutely no human way of stopping him when the clock goes to two minutes or less. That's the narrative, and we must stick to it. Of course, this Rose drive was not like any of the others. We'll get to that in a second.
But first: this Rose game in general wasn't like anything we've seen. The Pacers finally figured out the secret formula to stopping him, dogging him with rookie Paul George, occasionally trapping him, but mostly laying way back as Rose slung missed jumper after missed jumper toward the rim. In fact, that layup was his only made field goal at the rim in the entire game. Rose scored 23 points mostly because the Pacers couldn't stop fouling him, but all in all, a 4-18 performance with five turnovers isn't MVP ... BUT HE'S CLUTCH SO IT DOESN'T MATTER. (Sorry, I think Tommy Lee Jones just zapped my memory).
Also, let's be honest: the Pacers could have stopped Rose's final drive with better defense. The great Sebastian Pruiti of NBA Playbook covers this in depth here, so I'm piggybacking a bit, but it still needs to be said. For one thing, Frank Vogel switched Dahntay Jones on Rose for some reason instead of trusting George, who had defended Rose well in the fourth quarter. Jones naturally crept too close to Rose, allowing Rose to easily blow by him. Then, both players who should have cut off the lane -- George and Danny Granger -- swiped lazily at the ball instead of moving their feet. That can't happen against anyone, especially Derrick Rose.
Honestly, I wish both of those things happened. Instead, the Derrick Rose Clutch Bot meme rolls on.


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SKIPPY - a frequency hopping plugin for ICOM radios.
Skippy is a unique product, designed and built at Naidia, South Australia.
IC706 unleashed
Icom IC706 with Skippy frequency hopping plugin.
Conventional radios are intended to transmit and receive on a single channel. This fact makes them vulnerable to interception and jamming. Whilst scramblers and speech encryption devices may provide some degree of resistance to interception, they are ineffective against jammers. Frequency hopping (ECCM) is the only effective counter measure to both forms of electronic attack.
A frequency hopping radio is capable of hopping its operating frequency over a given bandwidth many times a second (with HF radio, this bandwidth is limited by the antenna and the ionosphere). When Skippy uses On-Air syncing, a sync signal is periodically transmitted to ensure that the transmitter and receiver keep hopping in sync with each other. In the event of Skippy using GPS, the PPS time signal from the GPS network is used to maintain sync and there are no periodic on-air sync signals. The hopping sequence follows a pseudo random pattern, which has an extremely long repeat time. This renders the hopping network virtually impossible to intercept or jam. Only the network users who have identically configured Skippy units can communicate.
In a Skippy frequency hopping network, the station which initiates the network is designated as Master. There can be any number of Slaves within a network.
The HF spectrum is often crowded and contains all sorts of signals and noise. Identifying a hopping net is made easier if the transmissions have a coherent or characteristic signature. For example, digitised frequency hopping radios use PSK or FSK, such transmissions are well defined and readily identifiable. The instantaneous spectrum of an analogue SSB voice transmission is characteristically noise-like and there is no output whatsoever between syllables. This renders SSB analogue voice hoppers like Skippy extremely difficult to intercept.
Actual performance in the field is subject to many variables, most of which are controlled by external factors (antennas, ionospheric conditions, terrain and electrical interference). An H.F. SSB analogue frequency hopping network is extremely difficult to detect using a conventional receiver. A wideband receiver is needed, and an active hopping network can be detected by using a waterfall display. Nevertheless, de-hopping the signal is extremely challenging, and jamming it virtually impossible.
Skippy will turn your ICOM amateur transceiver into a Frequency Agile S.S.B. Hopper.
Skippy will work in SSB mode across all bands, eg. an IC706 Mk11G becomes an HF, VHF and UHF frequency hopper.
Skippy's compact size, negligable power consumption and light weight will not inhibit your portable or mobile operation.
Skippy plugs into your existing radio, no radio modifications are required.
Skippy is also powered from your radio so trailing leads are kept to a minimum.
Skippy allows you to set infinitly variable hop rates to suit band conditions.
Skippy allows you to set infinitly variable hop bandwidth, and allows the user to nominate the exact start and stop freqs of the hop band. (the hop bandwidth range is from 1Hz to several Mhz)
Skippy has user selectable "ACK" tones so you can hear if other Skippy units on your net are synched in, or you can remain deep and quiet - you choose.
Skippy has user selectable random sideband selection during the hop.
Skippy has a built in radomised hop duration and randomised resync intervals.
Skippy can select an unique optimised Hop Band shape matched to the return loss of the antenna.
Skippy autodetects the presence of an optional P.P.S. GPS which allows the units to remain in sync indefinitely with no on-air sync tones.
User selectable parameters include:
Hop Rate - infinitely variable
Resync interval
Notch frequencies - don't hop here
Hop band start frequency
Hop band stop frequency
Sideband randomisation on or off.
"ack" tone on or off.
Three different hop band shapes are selectable.
Selectable initial sync frequency.
Preloader allows default hop parameters to be quickly loaded.
Icom radio model selection.
Codan 2110M HF Manpack Tactical Military Transceiver Barrett 2050 HF transceiver
Skippy's unique user selectable hop band shaping allows the operator to match the hop band shape to the antenna return loss. These spectrum plots here were done under shielded lab conditions using an IC706 with 175mSec hop duration. In an active band with real world signals, the hop pattern can be quite difficult to detect.
No hopshaping appiled, continuous audio tone. Hop-band 7000 - 7300 kHz
Mild hopshaping appiled, continuous audio tone. Hop-band 7000 - 7300 kHz
Agressive hopshaping appiled, continuous audio tone. Hop-band 7000 - 7300 kHz
Skippy is unlike conventional military frequency hopping radios. For starters Skippy is not a radio, Skippy is a fraction of the cost of a military hopping radio, and yet has more hopping configuration options.
Of course Skippy is not Mil-spec, nor is it IP rated, nor does it support digital modes, nor does it support voice encryption, nor is it painted green. Skippy is an entry level frequency hopper, designed with the Amateur, researcher or experimenter in mind.
Q- What is the maximum hop rate? A- There is no real absolute maximum hop rate (given the Icoms take 10mSec to change channels). Typically, somewhere between 3-12 hops/second is good depending on band conditions.
Q- Will Skippy cover all frequencies? A- Yes and no, In Australia Skippy is only for licensed Amateurs, and will only work within Amateur bands, The Export version of Skippy is "unlocked" and limited only by the radio.
Q- What does Skippy do to my radio? A- Nothing, it simply makes the radio change frequency.
Q- What does Skippy do to my signal? A- Nothing, it simply makes the radio change frequency. The signals pass through the radio exactly as normal. Other than the sync signal, Skippy is not in the signal path.
Q- Will Skippy damage my radio? A- Not if used correctly, but you can use Skippy at your own risk.
Q- What radios will Skippy work with? A - Skippy works with Icom IC706 & IC7000 series radios.
Q- Is Skippy's hop pattern compatable with other military HF/ VHF frequency hopping radios? A- No. Skippy's hop pattern is unique and not compatable with Codan, Barrett, Q-mac, Tadiran, Hughes, Racal, Harris or any other frequency hopping system.
Q- What does the radio interface lead consist of? A- It is the same as an Opentracker/Tinytrak lead with one extra wire for the CAT line.
Q- What do I have to do to prepare for using SKIPPY? A- Nett your radio to
within +/- 3Hz.
This is most important. Get your radio on frequency. Icoms are generaly 30-40Hz off from the factory.
Q- Do I need a GPS to use SKIPPY? A- No, it is entirely optional.
Q- Do I need a computer to use SKIPPY? A- No. Skippy is stand alone (requires the radio of course).
Q- Can I use one SKIPPY unit by itself ? A- Not really – it takes two to tango.
Q– How many Skippy units can I have in my NET? A- There is no limit to the number of Skippy units in your NET.
Q- Will Skippy continue to be supported and upgraded? A- Depends on initial interest.
Q- Does Skippy encrypt my signal? A- No Skippy does not encrypt your signal.
Q- Can SKIPPY be used to transmit & receive data or packet? A- This has not been tested, but Skippy may not like data or packet.
Q- I would like Skippy modifed to do XYZ. A- Certainly, it's a flat hourly rate.
Q- Can I have the SKIPPY source code? A- No. Q- Can I purchase the SKIPPY source code? A- Yes.
Q- How do Skippy units synchronise themselves? A- Either by On-Air tones, or by using the PPS signal from a GPS.
Q- How long will Skippy units remain synchronised? A- Indefinitely, given adequate band conditions or GPS syncing.
Q- I would like a demo of SKIPPY. A- Email me and make an appointment.
Q- Where can I get SKIPPY operating instructions? A- Draft operating instructions will be supplied when you purchase a Skippy unit.
Q- What is the emission designator for a Skippy controlled SSB transmission? A- 2K8J3E
Used BETA pre-producton SKIPPY trials prototypes are available now.
Available to Licenced Amateurs ONLY, the delivery name & address must match the licencee details on the Radcomms Database.
$220 ea
including GST and postage within VK
Cable $
45 ea
Export Sales
SKIPPY has been
assessed by the Defence Export Control Office
as a Controlled Item.
DECO has placed SKIPPY on the DSGL (Defence and Strategic Goods List).
Export of SKIPPY is prohibited without a permission from DECO.
The export of controlled goods and technology requires a permission to be issued in accordance with Regulation 13E of the Customs (Prohibited Exports) Regulations 1958.
To purchase from overseas, permission has to be obtained from DECO. Once export permission is granted the export process is handled by a suitably licenced Adelaide based International Freight Forwarding and Customs Brokerage company. This process takes 8-10 weeks and costs about $AUD1000 per order (not per unit) delivered to the USA. Once an Export Quote is prepared, full payment is required, in advance, prior to beginning the export process.
Skippy Enquires:


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The Super Bowl is never short on intrigue and speculation going in, but often the game itself falls short of the hype. There is a way to make sure that you remain focused on the game throughout, whether it's a blowout or a barn-burner. Prop bets.
This game, as all Super Bowls, has a long list of potential prop bets to make the casual fan pay close attention to the subtle nuances of the game, the broadcast and even the coin toss. You can bet on pretty much everything you could think of in reagrds to this game. These are the ten prop bets I found most interesting and my prediction.
- The length of the National Anthem in seconds vs. Peyton Manning first half passing yards: I like the anthem in this one. I think that Seattle will corral Manning in the first half and that an opera singer is going to stretch that anthem out, a lot.
- Does Knowshon Moreno cry during the anthem?: Yes he does. This one is a slam dunk.
- A member of the Red Hot Chili Peppers is shirtless during the halftime show: Yup, his name is Flea.
- Eli Manning is shown more or less than 1 1/2 times during the game: Eli will try, and fail, to be hidden from view during the game. I like the over.
- The Player who scores the first touchdown wears a number higher or lower than 79.5: I think a wideout scores the first TD on Sunday, I'll take the over.
- Peyton says Omaha more or less than 27 1/2 times: It's America's new favorite obsession, and Peyton's favorite word, apparently. I'm thinking the under comes through, but barely.
- Dale Earnhart Jr.'s finishing positon in the Daytona 500 or Russell Wilson's longest rushing play: This is an unbelievable thing to bet on. I've got Wilson breaking off at least one good one. I'll take Wilson.
- Peyton Manning pass attempts vs John Elway's pass attempts and TDs from Super Bowl XXXII (34): Peyton will throw it around tomorrow night, a lot. I've got Peyton over Elway.
- Alexander Ovechkin's point total against the Detroit Red Wings vs. Seattle sacks: Call me crazy but I'm taking Ovie.
- What color will the Gatorade (or other liquid) be when it's dumped on the winning team's coach?: This one has interesting odds with orange going off as a heavy favorite (5/4). Clear is (11/4), Yellow (15/2), Red(15/4), blue(8/1) and green(8-1). I know the odds are stacked against it, but I'm thinking blue is the dark horse winner here.
I know these are all ridiculous things to wager your hard earned money on, but if you're looking to spice up the Super Bowl experience, these were my favorites of the non-traditional wagers. Good luck to you all with your big game bets.
Tags: Super Bowl XLVIII


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For all the old fogies and old farts who insist on staying with tradition and refusing to even consider new jerseys, watch this video. If you think that kids dont appreciate and get amped up about the Nike Pro Combat, and the Under Armor Maryland then I have to assume you never played sports. I mean seriously, watch this video, the unis arent even that nice, and the kids flip out.
I myself am looking forward to the day when SU is good enough to warrant some special jersey treatment from Nike.


text: Mike Wells just tweeted his story for the Indy Star. I am lost of words. IDK wtf to think. Here's the link http://www.indystar.com/article/20120626/SPORTS04/120625056 . Donnie Walsh is most likely going to take his spot. Larry says Health issues. IDk what im trying to say, it's like midnight here in Hawaii. As far as I know, Hill will be a Pacer for sure next season, the rest is wide open. I don't know anything about Walsh's draft history, free agency moves and what not, if anyone knows please do tell. Anything can and will happen I'm expecting. DAMN IT. we better take steps forward and not take any steps back. Hoping that Hibbert will remain a Pacer.


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By: Lois M. Collins, WorldNowSuzanne Rico can hold her child as she writes the story of the woman who carried her baby for her. But there's also a potentially dark side to surrogacy as unscrupulous women make promises and literally fail to deliver.
Learning to be a better mother because of infertility
Record number of new moms have been to college
Sucking on baby's pacifier may cut allergy risks
Copyright 2013 Deseret Digital Media, Inc.


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November 21, 2007
Nashville - They call themselves Berrien County's forgotten community.
The neighborhood between Marion Street and Bee Tree Avenue, where drug bags litter the streets and the kids have no where to play but a run down park full of beer bottles and broken glass.
Streets they say that are full of crime that's getting worse by the day. "There's been a lot of shootings at the Blue Flame night lounge and in this area in particular," says Priscilla Clowers, a concerned neighbor.
Wednesday, they gathered at the sight where 22 year-old Roland Bryant of Adel was gunned down nearly two weeks ago.
A tragic event that is pulling this community together to demand the crime be stopped. "I'm crying out for help, please help us to help the community to be free."
They say they are forming a neighborhood watch group that will begin raising money to build a youth center, aimed to keep kids off the street.
"Young people don't have any place to go or anything to do," Barbara Dailey has observed. "When school is over, outside of that, they need something else to do."
Community Activist Rosalind Hobbs agrees. "A community house would be able to generate programs that would upgrade the community to a safe environment."
But they can't do it alone. They will be appealing to city council, police, and the sheriff's office to beef up patrols and give their part of town the attention they deserve.
"We'll be talking to all of them, trying to get something done in this community to stop the violence, drugs, and crime," Clowers adds.
They are also hoping to convince the city to give their park a face lift. They say the park has become a hot spot for drug dealers at night. And when combined with unsafe and decaying equipment, it's become a dangerous place for kids to play.
They say if everyone works together, they can take back their neighborhood.
Feedback: firstname.lastname@example.com?subject=nashvillecrime/AE
P.O. Box 3130
Albany, GA 31706
(229) 446-1010
FCC Public File
(229) 446-4005
EEO Report
Closed Captioning


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A History of the N Word that isn't Black and WhitePosted: March 19, 2014 Filed under: College Football, Pro football, Sports Sears | Tags: Fritz Pollard, Harry Carson, John Wooten, N Word law Leave a comment
Next week, we'll learn whether the Fritz Pollard Alliance's proposal to ban the N word in the NFL passed. The rule, which would cost teams 15 yards per violation, will be taken under further review by NFL owners at their annual meeting in Florida starting Monday.
The name "Fritz Pollard" has been leveraged by a non-profit organization to push for a change that Fritz Pollard himself might have not supported.But there's some evidence Pollard, who in the 1920s became the first black NFL quarterback and coach (as well as the first black to play in the Rose Bowl), was O.K. with the word when it was used in non-hateful ways or in artistic endeavors. This runs counter to the beliefs of current leaders of the Fritz Pollard Alliance, who believe the word should be banned regardless where and how it's used in the NFL work place. "We want this word to be policed from the parking lot to the equipment room to the locker room," chairman John Wooten told CBS Sports. "Secretaries, PR people, whoever, we want it eliminated completely and want it policed everywhere."
Harry Carson, another Fritz Pollard Alliance leader, told SI.com that those who use the n-word as a sign of solidarity have "have no sense of history." He added: "I find it very disheartening that in our society today we're having a debate about the n-words being used as a term of endearment."
Carson isn't altogether accurate here. That's why a closer look at the world in which Fritz Pollard lived is merited.
Nearly a century ago, a black Yale student used the N word in way that evokes how it's used among many blacks today. The student, William Ashby, attended a Brown game at Yale to watch the much hyped Fritz Pollard play for the visiting Brown team. As the game got underway, Pollard – as usual – was pelted with racist taunts by the home side's white fans. N words rained down on him. Opponents tried to maim him. But also, like usual, Pollard started dominating – and then a curious thing happened during one of his punt returns, according to Pollard's biography. While Pollard ran, Yale students yelled "Catch that nigger. Kill that nigger" while Ashby – who was sitting with other African-Americans on the Brown side – jumped up and yelled "Run, nigger, run. Go, Fritz, go."
This appears to be evidence – which I will bear out – that the word was not always used in a derogatory way at the beginning of the 20th century. It appears blacks sometimes used the word in a positive way among themselves, as happens now. I don't have direct evidence of Pollard using the N word himself but have found a few facts that make it less likely he was troubled by blacks who used it. In 1933, he played a significant role in a movie as controversial in large segments of black culture then as Wooten's proposal is now. The movie was "Emperor Jones," a story about an ambitious Pullman porter based on a Eugene O'Neill play. It starred former NFL player Paul Robeson, a college friend of Pollard's whom he served as a personal assistant and trainer. Pollard played a bit part on screen as a pianist.
The movie was controversial among many whites because it starred a black man. But it was divisive among many writers in black newspaper circles because it made extensive use of the N word, quoting verbatim from the O'Neill play. Black columnists encouraged readers to boycott the movie. If Pollard despised the casual use of the N word in entertainment, as Wooten does, I don't think Pollard would have been involved with the project.
The University of Arkansas Professor who Created a Sports DystopiaPosted: February 2, 2014 Filed under: Pro football, Razorback basketball, Razorback football | Tags: Bill Harrison, Rollerball, violent Super Bowl, William Harrison Leave a comment
More than 40 years ago, around the time public outcry was peaking about brutality in football, a University of Arkansas English professor attended a basketball game at Barnhill Arena*. There, with the Razorbacks trailing, a fight broke out. It was, apparently, quite a vicious squabble, so much so it inspired the Hogs to roar back for a win.
It also inspired the professor, William Harrison, to wonder just how violent sports in the future may become. He was moved to pen "a little experimental story."
That story, "Roller Ball Murder," published in Esquire and inspired the screenplays for two movies. The story centers on a highly popular futuristic sport involving balls and big, strong men flying at each other at increasingly high velocities. Rules are changed to make the game more violent and drive up ratings. The result: higher rates of in-game injuries, and frequent death. Crowd noise for the first movie, released in 1975, was actually recorded during a live game at Barnhill Arena.
Long before studies of former NFL players' brain tissue shook America's football-industrial complex to its stem, the sport had undergone other crises involving player safety. In the 1970s, no microscope was needed to see neck and spine injuries among players of all levels were escalating fast. One main culprit was the hard-shell helmet that had essentially become a spearing weapon. Too many coaches were teaching players a head-first form of tackling that left a path of mangled bodies in its wake, sending insurance premiums through the roof.Rollerball, a movie about a dystopian society fixated with an ultra-violent sport, became an international hit in 1975 and triggered more debate on brutality in sports within the general public. A former Penn State University president became so worried about the direction football was headed he made a plea in the form of a prediction to Joe Paterno, the former Nittany Lions head coach. "Joe, if football doesn't do something about the injuries, soccer will be our national sport in 10 years."
This didn't happen, of course.
It is Manning, not Messi, Sherman, not Suarez, who dominate the headlines before Sunday's massively anticipated Super Bowl. Denver's greatest passing offense of all time is on a collision course with Seattle and its most fearsome pass defense in recent history. This here is tectonic heat, a contrast hitting at the heart of why we love sport in the first place. The NFL has most of me in its grasp for this one.
And yet, there is unease. Questions of whether the game's brutality has gone too far persist. In terms of quantity and severity, there are signs we are on the cusp of the most violent Super Bowl yet.
The violence and danger of football extends far past professional stadiums.
Start with the increasing size, strength, and speed of players at almost all positions that has contributed to a rise in overall injuries over the last decade—from 2,623 in 2004 to 3,126 in 2012. Kam Chancellor, Seattle's all-league safety, stands 6'3", 232 pounds—specs that in the 1950s could have belonged to a defensive tackle. Nobody mixes mass, acceleration, and aggression quite like Chancellor, who appears to have the perfect mindset for somebody paid to do stuff like this:
"When I go out there, all of these hard hits and laying dudes out, that's just my passion for the game," he told the Seattle Times. "That's just showing how much I love this game."
*I haven't been able to find an original interview source in which Harrison cites Barnhill as the site of the basketball game, but I have found secondary sources like this. Plus, it just makes sense. Very few English and creative writing professors bother to follow a team on the road.
Alvin Bailey, Ross Rasner, Tarvaris Jackson, Sean McGrath, Ty Powell & the Super BowlPosted: January 31, 2014 Filed under: College Football, Non-Razorback football in Arkansas, Pro football, Razorback football | Tags: Alvin Bailey, Heeeere's Rossy, Razorbacks in the Super Bowl, Ross Rasner, Sean McGrath, Tarvaris Jackson, Ty Powell 1 Comment
Heading into this Sunday's Super Bowl, there appears to be three players with Arkansas ties on the rosters of the Denver Broncos and Seattle Seahawks. The one who will likely play the biggest role in the game itself is Clinton McDaniel, a Jacksonville native/pass rusher extraordinaire who specializes in collapsing the pocket on third downs. Learn more about him in my Sporting Life Arkansas profile here.
Offensive lineman Alvin Bailey also looks to get some burn in the big game. The former Razorback left school early last spring, went undrafted, but has carved out a nice niche for himself in Seattle. He threw a key block in the NFC Championship game to spring running back Marshawn Lynch for a 40-yard touchdown run. Those points proved to be the winning margin in a game which finished 23-17.
"I'm having the time of a lifetime," Bailey told The Oklahoman's Berry Tramel.
He's made no starts. But Bailey played about a dozen snaps in the NFC Championship Game as an extra lineman. And he cleared out 49er safety Donte Whitner, allowing Lynch to score and put the Seahawks in control.
Bailey said leaving Arkansas wasn't just a good decision, "it was a great decision."
"I thought I was going to get drafted. Things didn't work out that way. But I made it to the Seahawks, we're in the Super Bowl now. I don't regret anything."
Btw, here's a nice KARK interview with Bailey's gargantuan uncle, who's livin' large in Little Rock and is the main reason Bailey chose to attend Arkansas in the first place.
Tarvaris Jackson
Jackson hardly looked like a future pro during his two seasons as Razorback quarterback in 2002 and 2003. He had plenty "physical tools," sure, but so does every other QB who starts at least one game in the SEC. What he lacked was the maturity to put it all together, and the patience to see it through in Fayetteville. Ten years after he transferred to Alabama State, he becomes the most unlikely former Razorback quarterback to be on a Super Bowl roster only a couple years after becoming the most unlikely ex Hog to throw for 3,000 yards in the NFL.
To me, it doesn't matter that he likely won't play a snap. Or that in the last week he has inspired such headlines as "Tarvaris Jackson's Super Bowl Preparation is Sad and Boring." But laugh not. Appreciate how amazing it is he's almost been in the League for a full decade at QB, given how uninspiring his UA days were. It would be like time traveling to the NFL circa 2022 only to find Brandon Mitchell there as a savvy backup QB to Rafe Peavey in the Cowboy's long-awaited return to the Super Bowl.
2013 NFC West Champs! The QBs! Thanks @Bjdaniels5 @7tjackson and my QB Coach Carl Smith! #GoHawks pic.twitter.com/mGWSntZebi
— Russell Wilson (@DangeRussWilson) December 30, 2013
The Left Overs
None of the following guys with Arkansas college ties are on the rosters for Denver or Seattle. But don't discount the part they played earlier in the season sharpening their teammates for the long haul.
1. Ross Rasner – Ras-Nasty sure could deliver a hit in his Hog days in 2009-2012, whether on special teams, as linebacker or safety. He wasn't the most technically sound decleater we've ever seen on the Hill, so it wasn't a surprise when he went unpicked in the 2013 Draft. Still, there was some cause for optimism when Denver signed Rasner as a free agent last spring and brought him to camp. Even if rookie stuff like this was happening:
Unfortunately, in the end, the burden of beating out veteran safeties like Quentin Jammer and Mike Adams for a final roster spot was too much to bear. Rasner was cut on August 31, 2013. He hasn't yet resigned with another team, but if you think this is a man feeling down on his luck, these swag-tastic Instagram updates will have you thinking otherwise:
2. Sean McGrath
The 6-5, 247-pound McGrath is one of the most physically imposing college players to come out of Clark County, Ark. since Cowboys great Cliff Harris. While Harris played for Ouachita Baptist University, McGrath played in 2010 and 2011 for Henderson State after transferring from Eastern Illinois.
The Illinois native found the culture change tough at first, as he shared with ESPNW:
After two seasons as an EIU Panther, McGrath was dismissed for a violation of team rules… He got some help finding his next step from his assistant coach at EIU, Jeff Hoover, who would die in a car accident just a few months later.
"I was fortunate," McGrath said of getting a second chance. "The late Jeff Hoover hooked me up with Coach [Scott] Maxfield down at Henderson State U, and bada-bing, bada-boom, I'm in the Bible Belt. Arkadelphia, Arkansas."
Sounds made up, but it's a real place. There were, of course, a few growing pains for McGrath, who adjusted to the South while sitting out the 2009 season.
"It's a different place," he said. "When I first got down there I didn't know what a dry county was. Needless to say we had to get that changed. Political process went into effect and, you know. Let's just say it was wet when we left."
By 2010 the students of Henderson State were getting their buzz on and McGrath was back on track, catching 55 passes for 565 yards and four touchdowns. He was injured for much of his senior year and went undrafted, but he refused to give up on his dream to go pro.
Last year, McGrath played as a tight end on Seattle's practice squad for four months before finally being called up. McGrath played well and improved over the offseason. By last spring, he'd worked his way into being the Seahawks' second-string tight end , and sent some Seattle sports opinionators into a caffeinated craze along the way. One blogger even imagined McGrath's role in the waning minutes of a (then) hypothetical Super Bowl:
Wilson snaps the ball. Broncos linebacker Von Miller reads the run coming his way, and attacks the line. Oddly, he finds himself moving backwards despite his legs churning forwards. Seahawks tight end Sean McGrath is walking him back off the line. It starts slowly, but McGrath gains momentum and has completely overpowered Miller by this point. Miller is a full five yards beyond the line of scrimmage when McGrath assassinates his dignity. [emphasis mine] He is no longer moving backwards because McGrath has planted him on his back.
McGrath was cut by Seattle on August 31, but soon picked up Kansas City. He ended up starting nine games for the Chiefs, tallying 26 receptions for 302 yards and 2 touchdowns. And he would never, ever, think of assassinating the dignity of a good locker room interview:
Keep this man away from the "Discovery Channel"!
I wish there was adult version of the discovery zone
— Sean P McGrath (@Spmcgrath123) December 10, 2013
3. Ty Powell
Seattle head coach Pete Carroll loves his linebacker/safeties fast, physical, big and snarling. That's why he chose the 6'2″, 248-pound Powell in the seventh round, with the 231 overall pick, in the 2013 Draft. Powell had been plenty impressive at Harding University, where he was ranked the 17th best outside linebacker in the nation (inc. Division I) after a 2012 season that included 12 tackles for loss, 8.5 sacks and four blocked kicks [This, btw, may be a single season Arkansas college football record. Perhaps Hog Dan Skipper will break it...]
Powell says in the below video he believed he could have gone as high as the third or fourth round, so when he dropped to seventh he was left with a bit of a "chip on my shoulder":
If Powell had a chip on his shoulder then, you know he had a veritable tortilla shell on the shoulder after being waived by the Seahawks this past September. Buffalo snapped the linebacker up the following month, though, and Powell finished with nine tackles in the the last four games of the season.
Ranking Peyton Manning & Tom Brady Vs All-Time Best QBsPosted: January 19, 2014 Filed under: Pro football | Tags: Best quarterbacks in NFL history, NFL, Peyton Manning, Tom Brady Leave a comment
At this moment, Tom Brady and Peyton Manning are near-unanimous Top 10 quarterbacks in NFL history. Some will knock Brady for winning Super Bowls only on teams which operated during New England's "Spygate" era. That may be so, but since the season that scandal broke – 2007 – Brady has still led his team to two Super Bowls and put up historic numbers. Likewise, Manning has been criticized for only winning one of two Super Bowls despite surpassing Dan Marino as the best regular season quarterback in NFL history. Still, Big Peyt led his team to ONE Super Bowl title – which counts for something. Not as much as two, but he deserves a spot in the Top 10 alongside the likes of Joe Montana, Terry Bradshaw, John Elway and, yes, Drew Brees.
But for every modern player that enters fans' conversations a near-lock Top 10er, someone from the olden days has to be knocked down a notch. This is a topic I explore in a piece for the Daily Beast:
The question of whether either quarterback has a legit claim to being the all-time best remains, though. The answer may seem clearer after the game, but will again muddle in the coming years as time erodes fans' perceptions. Most of today's NFL fans would agree Brady and Manning deserve to be ranked somewhere in the league's all-time Top 10 quarterbacks. But Brady and Manning could not have already ascended into that pantheon unless older all-time greats like Otto Graham, Bart Starr and Sammy Baugh were knocked down a few notches.
Baugh, who starred for the Redskins in the 1940s, is the only player to lead the NFL in passing, punting, and intercepting in the same season. That's pretty awesome, but unfortunately for Baugh's reputation, he's ancient history to most NFL fans. Nobody mentions his name anymore "because nobody's seen him," Joe Montana said in 2012. "It's always about what's happening now."
It's difficult to imagine, but to some future generation Manning's career tally of 491 touchdowns and 219 interceptions will look as unimpressive as Baugh's 187 TDs/203 INTs career total looks to us now. There will be quarterbacks faster, stronger and quicker than their predecessors who will in the coming decades earn teammates' loyalties, shatter today's records, win at least three Super Bowls and surpass Manning and Brady on most fans' Top 10 lists. The young, explosive dual-threat stars squaring off in the NFC Championship Game—Colin Kaepernick and Russell Wilson—remind us Manning and Brady's time at the top of their profession is limited.
For proof of how fluid all-time rankings in sports can be, and how current generation-centric most of us are, look at the below list compiled by Roland Lazenby for his book "100 Greatest Quarterbacks." Most people would still have Montana, Bradshaw, Unitas, and maybe Staubach and Marino in their list, but you won't see the others very often. Not since John Elway, Brett Favre and Steve Young have broke onto the scene.
Top 10 Greatest One-Season Turnarounds in Sports HistoryPosted: January 9, 2014 Filed under: Baseball, College Football, Pro basketball, Pro football | Tags: Auburn, biggest turnaround in basketball history, Biggest turnaround in college football history, biggest turnaround in sports history, Gus Malzahn Leave a comment
When Auburn barely fell 34-31 to Florida State on Monday night in a showdown for the national title, it didn't just lose a game. It lost a shot at securing status as the greatest one-season turnaround in major American team sports history. Auburn was within three points of completing a U-turn which, in terms of winning percentage and postseason results, had never before been seen on this scale.
That said, these Tigers still went from 3-9 to 12-2 and a No. 2 ranking. That in itself is still historic and ranks at the top of all-time turnarounds in major college football. But, when it comes to all-time bounce backs, a few examples in pro basketball and football still take the cake. The St. Louis Rams, for instance, overcame 300-1 odds heading into the 1999 season to win the 2000 Super Bowl. In fact, looking at the official odds at the start of the season has provided fodder for some of the best "comebacks" and "turnarounds" recorded in recent time. One may click here for more on NFL betting this postseason and ask themselves if anything indicates a franchise turnaround.
Unquestionably, those '99 Rams and these '13 Tigers are all-timers. Here are eight more:
10. Hawaii (college football)
1998: 0-12 (12.4 points per game / 35.2 points against per game)
1999: 9-4 (28.5 points per game / 26.8 points against per game)
Like at Auburn, an offensive guru turned the Rainbow Warrior program around.
When June Jones arrived as Hawaii's head coach, he faced a team which was suffering through an 18-game losing streak and could not pass the ball to the Pacific Ocean. Within a fall, he had the offense humming and led Hawaii to the Oahu Bowl, where it beat Oregon State 23-17.
"He actually came in and gave us a system," former Hawaii quarterback Dan Robinson told the Montgomery Advisor. "We started the exact same players as the season before when we went 0-12. He gave us a system and taught us how to believe in that system. The season before, every week, we'd run a different offense."
9. Kansas City Wizards (pro soccer)
1999: 8-24 (24 goals scored total / 53 goals scored against total)
2000: 16-9*-7 (47 goals scored total / 29 goals scored against total)
In 1999, the team had a talented roster – including two-time World Cup starters Tony Meola and Alexi Lalas – but could not put it together. Of course, it's never a good sign when a defender (Lalas) is your third-leading scorer for a season. Putting points on the board was not a problem for KC the following season, thanks to the vastly improved play of midfielder Chris Henderson and his Danish friend and MLS newcomer Miklos Molnar. What's now Sporting Kansas City won its first MLS Supporters' Shield, beating the Chicago Fire 1-0.
*Eight draws, along with 16 wins and seven losses. This was the first season MLS games were allowed to finish in ties.
8. New England Patriots (pro football)
2000: 5-11 (17.2 points per game / 21.1 points against per game)
2001: 11-5 (23.2 points per game / 17.0 points against per game)
It's hard to imagine the Patriots slogging through a losing season under Bill Belichick. That's because it hasn't happened since 2000, when he start reorganizing everything in his first season as head coach in Foxboro. He certainly laid a good foundation, which was unexpectedly helped in the second game of the following season when the Patriots were blessed by the "fortune" of having their 29-year-old franchise quarterback, Drew Bledsoe, go down with a sheared blood vessel in his chest. Tom Brady, a sixth-round draft pick in 2000, stepped in to replace him and proceeded to lead New England to an 11-3 record as starter. With the help of three clutch Adam Vinatieri field goals, the Patriots won the franchise's first Super Bowl.
Ken Hatfield on Stanford, Recruiting Texas and Bill Parcells' Secret SaucePosted: November 13, 2013 Filed under: Pro football, Razorback football, SEC | Tags: Arkansas recruting, Bill Parcells, Ken Hatfield, Quinn Grovey, Steve Atwater, Wayne Martin Leave a comment
I just got off the phone with Ken Hatfield, the most winning Razorback football coach by percentage, for a High Profile feature I'm writing on David Bazzel for the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette. I couldn't help but also ask Hatfield some side questions about college football's biggest game last week and the current state of the Hogs. Specifically, I was curious as to what he thought of grind-it-out Stanford's recent domination over Oregon and how that could play into the Razorbacks' future.
"To be a champion, you've got to do one of two things to be successful," Hatfield said. "You got to do things better than anyone else or you got to do things different than anyone else … like in the days that Texas ran the wishbone. The teams trying to stop it had a hard time trying to stop it on their own practice field, so one year every team in the Southwest conference ran their own version of the wishbone. They had to do it so they could figure out how to stop [the wishbone] and then they still couldn't stop it because Texas had better players and executed it better."
So, the other SWC teams went another direction. "That's when you had Hayden Fry and some other people come in with a single wide receiver and do different other things." Stanford has been able to capitalize on its enduring reputation for ball-control offenses, Hatfield said. "They have been able to recruit people that style of offense from around the nation because Stanford has such a national draw, and a lot of the things that they were doing, nobody else was recruiting those players for."
Bill Parcells once told Hatfield the winning formula was similar in the NFL: "You've got to take the ball over when there's four minutes left in the game. You've got to run the clock out when the other team knows you're going to run every play … that other team is paying $30 million for that quarterback for that two-minute offense and the only way you're going to defeat him is by keeping him on the bench. So to win you've got to be able to run the football when the other team is ganging up on the line of scrimmage and knows you're going to do it. If it works for the NFL, it ought to work good college teams too."
OK, bear with me: I'm now putting on my referring-to-myself-in-third-person socks:
Demirel: Do you think to a certain extent Stanford's success against a powerful hurry up offense provides a blueprint for Arkansas success going forward in the SEC?
Hatfield: "The only difference you have is that you got a couple teams in the SEC that are already doing the Stanford thing … then you get back to trying to do something better than them." For Bielema and his staff, the biggest priority is signing the right players – especially on the lines, he added.
Demirel: Do you think that Arkansas will be able to do better at recruiting when LSU, Alabama and now Texas A&M are closer to the hot spots where so many of these recruits live?
Hatfield: "Certainly, it's a real big challenge … I would think one of the great assets we have right now is to really to go back in and recruit Texas extremely hard, the way we did. Because, for about 18 years there, nobody in Texas cared about the SEC because it wasn't in the paper, they never covered it. But now, with A&M coming into the league and the great success they've had in two years, every paper in Texas everyday mentions the SEC. Every newspaper. So I think you get a chance of knowing the SEC is important in Texas and and we're so close to it, where you could get a lot of players where their families could come and see it."
Demirel: But A&M's success makes that tougher, as does Baylor's recent success as well.
Hatfield: "Oh, there's no doubt about it … while Baylor's good there, there's no doubt about it, there's still some mystique about playing in the SEC. And if you're a Texas player who's going to play in the SEC against the great competition you're going to have, you've either got to go to A&M or go to Arkansas. LSU's going to get all their players from Louisiana – a few from Alabama, a few from Texas – but they're gonna get them from there. But for a great Texas player who wants to play in the SEC and still wants to be close to home, you've got A&M and Arkansas."
Demirel: It'll be interesting to see if Arkansas ramps it up there. Also, although Arkansas has tried to develop recruiting in Florida before, it seems like Bielema and some of his assistants are hitting it extremely hard. It'll be interesting to see if they can make Florida more of a recruiting base than ever have before.
Hatfield: "… You've always got to figure out in recruiting what's your advantage. The one thing I believed we had for a long time which was great in Arkansas was the ability to bring kids in here in redshirt them – let them grow up, and enjoy the beauty of the state and the beauty of the fans, maybe get to be a year or two older than other people too. Almost all of the players we had were redshirted."
"I mean, you had Steve Atwater and number one [round] draft pick, you had Wayne Martin, a [round] one draft pick, you had Quinn Grovey, one of the greatest quarterbacks we ever had. All of them were redshirted. None of them played as [true] freshmen and they were all great talents. Those extra years here really made a difference both in helping them get a degree and also in their physical development. So I wouldn't give up on that formula either. Do something different Arkansas, maybe that other people aren't doing. You just got to do whatever you believe in and I think that Beliema will do whatever he believes in."
Exclusive Q&A: All-SEC Travis Swanson, Coaches Bret Bielema & Sam PittmanPosted: August 27, 2013 Filed under: Pro football, Razorback football | Tags: Bret Bielema, DeMarcus Love, NFL Draft, Ray Dominguez, Sam Pittman, Travis Swanson Leave a comment
I wrote a feature article for SYNC this week about Arkansas center Travis Swanson, who has developed into one of the SEC's best offensive linemen and is the centerpiece (in nearly every metaphorical or literal way imaginable) of Bret Bielema's offense.
I wasn't able to fit a few interesting tidbits into the story, so I throw them out now:
How Swanson Can Improve
By the way Bielema raves about Swanson, you'd think the guy was already the nation's best college center of the last few years. "I'd be very, very surprised" if he doesn't lead the SEC in pancake blocks this season, Bielema told me, despite the fact Swanson's career highlights so far don't exactly scream "Shawn Andrews 2.0″
Yes, T-Swan is good. Very good, in fact. But he's not yet a Rimington Award winner and he hasn't yet made a first team All-American.
The fifth-year senior can still stand to improve some.
His offensive line coach, Sam Pittman, said Swanson has already learned to play with with explosiveness and "pop" since winter (it helps he's put on 10 pounds of muscle while shedding body fat).
"Now it's more about shoulder leverage, hand placement – on a tight nose – things of that nature that we're working on," Pittman said.
The leverage issue is something other NFL Draft analysts have also mentioned. "When he tries to generate push he tends to lean too much and it made him easy to shed for guys like Kirby Ennis of A&M and Isaac Gross of Ole Miss," writes Tom Melton. "There were times that Swanson really seemed to struggle with speed and quickness in the run game, and that was particularly evident against Ole Miss when Isaac Gross regularly beat him despite being listed as a 6'1", 255 pound true freshman defensive tackle."
Rob Rang of NFLDraftScout.com adds: "He understands blocking angles and generally seals off opponents from the action effectively in the running game but can be beaten inside by quickness and too often drops his head on contact when blocking on the move, leading to experienced defenders occasionally swimming over the top to break free."
Swanson wasn't particularly explosive in the run game last year. If he drastically improves there – which Bielema obviously believes it will – there's no reason to think he couldn't break into the second or even lower first round.
NFL analyst Chris Mortensen spoke to two NFL scouts he knows and told me that at this point Swanson projects as a second or third round guy. Bielema told me: "That ranking doesn't even come close, in my opinion, to what his actual ability his, They [scouts] haven't seen what we're gonna do with him yet," he said. "We're gonna do some center pulls. We gonna do some stuff where people are gonna say 'Wow. This guy has really got something.'"
Sorry, Mike Anderson
Bielema said one reason Swanson projects as first team All-SEC this season is that he has outstanding footwork. "His feet never leave the framework of his body. Travis is probably 6-5, but he plays like a guy who's 5-10. His feet stay under his body. As people get longer, they tend to play with longer strides so it's the players who grow taller and yet don't over stride that become successful."
"[Former Wisconsin player] J.J. Watt, defensive end, he's a 2nd year player and the best defensive player in the NFL, he's 6-6 but his feet never play out of his box," Bielema said. "That allows you to play under control,"
I mentioned to Bielema that the opposite situation plays out in basketball, where it's typically better for players to "get wide" and use a long reach.
This literally got Bielema out of his seat and – with somewhat surprising alacrity – into a defensive basketball position.
"Basketball coaches are the worst freaking thing to ever happen to football coaches," he said as he got into a crouch, arms spread wide. "Because their breakdown means this. How many football players you ever seen like that? If your ass is behind your heels, you'll never play football. But in basketball, your ass is to be behind your heels all the time. That's the breakdown position."
"But in basketball you can't run anybody over. In football, you have to be able to withstand pressure and fight."
I Want To Pancake Block the Petrinos
If you're like me, you dig stats. Not just the normal boilerplate stuff, but the more advanced stuff. More = good.
Not so under the Bobby and Paul Petrino regime. The former Arkansas Razorback coaches didn't disclose stats for offensive linemen. If like me you want to know how Swanson's pancake blocks and grading percentage improved from year to year, tough luck – the Petrino-era coaches didn't pass these numbers on to the rest of us.
I've been told the new staff will keep better track of these numbers and will share some of them with the public. They should. Especially since a few of them have built reputations as developers of future star NFL linemen.
Swanson As Sensei
Travis arrived on the Fayetteville campus in 2009, the same year that Arkansas' last great center – Jonathan Luigs – left. Swanson said he didn't have the benefit of an experienced center to show him the ropes during his redshirt freshman and freshman years.
He credits other offensive lineman – DeMarcus Love and Ray Dominguez -as well as Ryan Mallett with showing him to be vocal and assertive as a leader. Nowadays, he's eager to pass on his knowledge and serve as a mentor to younger O-linemen on this year's team: "I'm gonna try to help the younger guys understand because when I was younger I didn't really have that."
Swanson got thrown to the wolves early. He made his first SEC start on the road against a strong Georgia team and as a freshman eventually secured the starting job of a team that made the Sugar Bowl.
The interior defensive linemen Swanson deals with are some of the best in the nation. I asked him who have been the toughest to block in his career and most of them come from early in his career: Auburn's Nick Fairley, Ohio State's Cameron Heyward, Mississippi State's Pernell McPhee, LSU's Marcell Dareus and Drake Nevis.
Family Style
Since moving to Fayetteville from his Houston-area home, Swanson has gone full circle with his housemates.
In 2009, he room with Bryan Boehner.
Last year, Swanson lived with teammates Brey Cook and Luke Charpentier in a big house. This year, just like in Texas, he's living with his younger brother – a UA freshman.
For more about Swanson's life, including his biggest off-field news of the year, check out this SYNC article.
Who's the Best Fullback in Arkansas Razorback History?Posted: August 14, 2013 Filed under: College Football, Pro football, Razorback football Leave a comment
Traditionally, one of the strongest positions for the Arkansas Razorbacks has been at fullback. That changed with the advent of Bobby Petrino's spread passing offense, which de-emphasized the fullback's role, but we see its reemergence in the Bret Bielema era.
Today's torchbearer is senior Kiero Small, a 5'10", 238-pound bowling ball of a bruiser whose health this season will play a crucial role in whether Arkansas can effectively move the ball against the likes of Alabama and LSU.
Who, though, is the best fullback in program history?
I deal with one such candidate in a recent Sporting Life Arkansas article about Mark Pierce. Pierce had all the tangibles you'd want in a fullback and at 6 feet tall and 248 pounds (with a 4.5 40 yard dash), he certainly knew how to use them. Heading into his junior season, he was considered the nation's best fullback by the Sporting News. Unfortunately, Pierce didn't develop the intangibles, though, and the results were absolutely tragic.
Here are other top candidates:
1. Leon "Muscles" Campbell (6'0″, 199 pounds)
Campbell was a four-year letterman at Arkansas, rushing for 1,335 yards on 295 carries from 1946-49. The fullback-linebacker held the one-game rushing record of 236 yards until 1973.
He may have the coolest nickname origin story in Arkansas history. It's found in his obituary: Campbell's teammate Clyde Scott said when Campbell arrived at Arkansas, he walked into Scott's room with a railroad spike and a towel. He wrapped the towel around the spike and pulled, bending the iron rod. (Man did kids sure figure out ways to entertain themselves before Playstation 3!)
Soon thereafter, Campbell became known as "Muscles."
Campbell played for Baltimore, Chicago and Pittsburgh in a six-year NFL career. He scored his only professional touchdown on a 1952 kickoff return. His best year as a pro was in 1953, when he had 659 yards rushing, receiving and on kick returns. He worked for Reynolds Metals Co. in Bauxite for 30 years.
Campbell died at age 75 of malignant mesothelioma on September 2, 2002.
2. Henry Moore
Moore was consensus all-SWC in 1954 and 1955 and led the Hogs in rushing during their 1954 SWC championship season. He was selected as the 19th overall pick in the 1956 NFL Draft and played two seasons as a pro. He won an NFL title his rookie season with the New York Giants.
3. Preston Carpenter (6-2, 190 pounds)
A highly versatile player, who wore "blocking back" as only one of his varied hats. Also a devastating linebacker for Hogs in 1953 and 1954 who was all-SWC as halfback in 1955. Led Cleveland Browns in rushing in 1956 and receiving in 1958, and was a Pro Bowl selection as tight end for Pittsburgh in 1962.
Funny story, as told to me by amateur Razorbacks historian Jim Rasco: Carpenter and his brother, Lew, both played for the Browns in the mid 1950s. Cleveland acquired some rookie running back named Jim Brown before the 1957 season, and at the start of that season, Brown sat down with the Carpenter brothers and made sure to let them know that he deserved the ball and that he expected them to block well for him.
They obliged; the rest is history.
Darren McFadden, Michael Dyer Help Young, Black Males Through Police-Affiliated ProgramPosted: June 14, 2013 Filed under: College Football, Pro football, Razorback football | Tags: Darren McFadden, Donald Northcross, Little Rock Police Department, Michael Dyer, O.K. Program, Willie Davis Leave a comment
Two of central Arkansas' greatest prep running backs have also played parts in boosting a mentoring program for young, African-American males.
The national Our Kids Program is spearheaded by black officers in various cities' police departments. It's specifically aimed at ameliorating a socio-economic "epidemic" which program leaders say afflicts black communities around the nation.
As profiled in this Sync week's issue, Little Rock has an affiliate program in which teens at four public schools weekly gather for mentoring sessions with police and volunteer adult males. The program's director makes no bones about requiring everyone directly involved with the program to be African-American:
As [Donald] Northcross sees it, the problems facing many black communities in this nation add up to a full-blown epidemic.
Compared to every other race and gender group, black males are more likely to skip class, not turn in homework, drop out of high school, get arrested for drug use and serve years in prison. Indeed, according to the national O.K. Program, one in three black males will be imprisoned at some point in their lives. Lengthy jail sentences leave yet more single-parent households behind, setting the stage for the entire vicious cycle to entrap younger generations.
How to break free?
Design black male-oriented solutions for what are clearly black male-oriented problems. "I think there needs to be programs that are geared toward specific communities," Northcross says. "We have a serious problem. We're not very interested in how it looks — political correctness and things like that."
Last fall, former Auburn running back Michael Dyer appeared as a guest keynote speaker during a mentoring session. Dyer, a former national championship game MVP, spoke about challenges he had to overcome during a hardknock childhood in Little Rock. Dyer's still trying to overcome challenges: the 22-year-old spent the last school year at nearby Arkansas Baptist College after tumultuous departures from Auburn and Arkansas State.
Visit syncweekly.com for more on Dyer and D-Mac.
Peyton Manning on Ray Lewis' Crushing Blows & Bret BielemaPosted: June 5, 2013 Filed under: College Football, Pro football, Razorback football | Tags: Montee Ball, Peyton Manning 1 Comment
Pop music has the Grammys. Cinema has the Oscars. Literature's got the Pulitzer. And now, in the world of local high school sports: the All Arkansas Preps Awards.
More than 1,000 people attended the inaugural awards ceremony on Saturday night in Little Rock that honored top male and female athletes and coaches in eight sports, as chosen by the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette. Awards were also given for academic achievement, community service and perseverance through sickness or injury.
The banquet's signature event was an appearance by four-time NFL MVP Peyton Manning. The Denver Broncos quarterback gave a keynote speech and fielded questions from emcee Keith Jackson, a color commentator for Razorbacks football who runs the Positive Atmosphere Reaches Kids program in his native Little Rock.
Manning, who's entering his 15th NFL season, encouraged the 300 student-athletes in the Statehouse Convention Center ballroom to work hard and not see their upcoming college years as only a stepping stone but to "enjoy the experience, enjoy the journey."
Manning retraced much of his own journey as the second son of Hall of Fame quarterback Archie Manning growing up in Lousiana to Super Bowl MVP with the Indianapolis Colts. Peyton, who never lost to Arkansas during his University of Tennessee career, sprinkled Razorback-related anecdotes throughout the 45-minute Q & A with Jackson.
Below are edited excerpts:
Q: What are some of your memorable moments playing against the Razorbacks 1994-1997?
A: … I remember my senior year here in Little Rock. I always enjoy talking to my dad about the great old college stadiums … He got to play Arkansas in the Sugar Bowl, but he never got to play at War Memorial … The the thing I remember about that game, we put a trick play in that week. We put in the ol' pitch to the running back, throw it to the quarterback, right, and I remember we ran it in practice all week just about perfect. I schooled 'em every time. I had been dreaming all week about catching a touchdown – I'd never done that before.
And sure enough, during the game we got a perfect look … and I pitch it to [running back] Jamal Lewis and he throws it back to me – a perfect pass – and I caught it and I got two yards. Their defense was a lot faster than our scout team's.
Q: Talk some about Broncos rookie running back Montee Ball, who played for Bret Bielema.
A: Montee Ball was a four-year running back at Wisconsin. He led the NCAA in touchdowns, so we're excited to have him on the Broncos. We had a little team function the other day and I was asking him about Coach Bielema and he was saying how [instrumental] he was for him and his career, and how lucky he was to play for him. He just thought the world of him, so I could tell [Bielema] is gonna make a great transition to Arkansas.
Q: What do you treasure most about the South?
A: I think Southern hospitality. My parents are from Mississippi, I grew up in New Orleans … Just the people, I really enjoy getting back to New Orleans, getting back to Tennessee. I've been here to Little Rock a number of times. Everybody's been so nice to me here. The Arkansas secondary was always so nice to me.
Q: We normally see you so serious, but there's a funny side to you. You had a chance to host Saturday Night Live.
A: … The one that people always talk about is the United Way skit, where I'm throwing the football at the kids. A lot of people have asked "Peyton, please tell me you weren't really hurting those kids." And I promise you folks, that was a Nerf football … and all these kids, they were all child actors which is a kind of disturbing field in its own way. And all the parents were there the entire time when we were doing that skit and the director said 'You gotta hit them in the face, you gotta do it.' And I had to have a little talk with myself before I could do it.
But I felt a little more comfortable when I heard one of the parents yelling at the director 'I want him to hit my kid in the face!'"


text:
Altus- Opening statements in an Altus murder trial are set to begin Wednesday morning.
Detectives testified during Manuel Daniel, Junior's preliminary hearing that Melissa Bost had taken some crack cocaine to his house the day she was killed in August of 2012. Her body was found in her car in an alley a couple of miles away.
The medical examiner's report says the 49-year-old suffered several knife wounds. Daniel is charged with first degree murder and has pleaded not guilty.
Count on 7NEWS for updates from the trial.
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Here's a couple trade ideas, and I'm aware that the first one could not happen until after September 12.
Houston Rockets receive: Brandon Bass, Gerald Wallace
Oklahoma City Thunder receive: Omer Asik, Courtney Lee
Boston Celtics receive: Kendrick Perkins, Jeremy Lin
The Rockets would receive a starting PF in Brandon Bass who has a great midrange jumper, another option to kick out to when Dwight Howard pulls double teams. Also, Gerald Wallace would bring added veteran presence to an otherwise young team as well as improving the bench. The Wallace contract would be a bad one for the Rockets to take, but they would be saying goodbye to Jeremy Lin's bad contract as well as avoiding the possible chemistry issue Omer Asik might cause. IMO the Rockets get better with this trade.
The Thunder would get a large talent upgrade at starting Center in Omer Asik and at the same time rid themselves of the Kendrick Perkins contract. Courtney Lee would also provide the Thunder with needed depth, and if his game gets back on track, an offensive push off of the bench. IMO the Thunder get better with this trade.
While it looks like the Celtics do not upgrade with this trade and are only taking on two bad contracts, they would actually be swapping three bad contracts for two bad contracts that are not as bad given the Celtics situation. The Celtics would go from having Wallace for three years, Lee for three years, and Bass for two years, to only having Perkins and Lin for two years each. Also, most Celtics fans have favorable memories of Perkins and would welcome him back while he provides our younger guys more time to develop. Lin would be horribly overpriced, but nonetheless a good backup point. A handful of summer league games do not make Phil Pressey ready to backup Rondo. I like the idea of this trade for the Celtics. It gets bad contacts off of the books sooner and at least puts the bad contract players in positions that need to be filled.
Memphis Grizzlies receive: Jordan Crawford
Boston Celtics receive: Quincy Pondexter
Crawford and Pondexter are almost identical in contract, so the swap is easy. What Crawford does for Memphis is to provide some offense off of the bench and make the Grizzlies deeper at a position where Tony Allen is the starter and recently drafted Jamaal Franklin is the only backup. For the Celtics, this trade relieves some of the overcrowding at our shooting guard position and deepens the team at Small Forward. IMO it is a win for both teams.
If both of these trades were executed our depth chart looks a little better going into the season.
PG: Rondo, Lin, Pressey
SG: Bradley, Brooks, Bogans
SF: Green, Pondexter
PF: Humphries, Sullinger, Olynyk
C: Perkins, Faverani, Randolph, Melo