2011-2012 Bowl Picks

CHAMPS SPORTS BOWL - Florida St. vs. Notre Dame

Pick: Florida St. 26, Notre Dame 34

Key: FSU lacks the ability to convert on third down and it will kill them, especially while in the endzone. FSU will need a big game from E.J. Manuel and Dustin Hopkins (yes, their kicker), to pull off a victory over a talented Notre Dame team.

OUTBACK BOWL - Michigan St. vs. Georgia

Pick: Michigan St. 13, Georgia 21

Key: Aaron Murray has to get the Michigan St. defense backpedaling for the Georgia backs to win the game.

CAPITAL ONE BOWL - Nebraska vs. S. Carolina

Pick: Nebraska 20, S. Carolina 27

Key: Get the ball to Marcus Lattimore as much as possible.

TAXSLAYER.COM GATOR BOWL - Ohio St. vs. Florida

Pick: Ohio St. 14, Florida 17

Key: John Brantley’s health, accuracy, and football IQ need to be on par for the Gators to win… Will Muschamp and Charlie Weis need to open up their  playbook and stop running a conservative offense for four quarters as well.

VIZIO ROSE BOWL - Wisconsin vs. Oregon

Pick: Wisconsin 17, Oregon 24

Key: Two great backs, 1 has a better O-Line (Oregon)

TOSTITO’S FIESTA BOWL - Stanford vs. Oklahoma St.

Pick: Stanford 27, Oklahoma St. 38

Key: Andrew Luck vs. Brandon Wheeden... enough said. 

ALLSTATE SUGAR BOWL - Michigan vs. Virginia Tech

Pick: Michigan 34, Virginia Tech 7

Key: Denard Robinson and Fitzgerald Toussaint will have Virginia Tech's 'D' guessing all game long.

DISCOVER ORANGE BOWL - W. Virginia vs. Clemson

Pick: W. Virginia 27, Clemson 28

Key: Clemson’s pass defense needs to make big plays and force W. Virginia out of their game plan.

AT&T COTTON BOWL - Kansas St. vs. Arkansas

Pick: Kansas St. 17, Arkansas 30

Key: Arkansas has to mix in the run along with a stellar passing attack.

ALLSTATE BCS CHAMPIONSHIP GAME - Alabama vs. LSU

Pick: Alabama 20, LSU 13

Key: Alabama has to make the most of their opportunities. Their 6-9 OT loss to LSU earlier this season featured four missed field goals (1 blocked) and a key end zone interception. Nick Saban is arguably one of the best head coaches in college football and will surely make sure his team is prepared for this rematch.

If anyone would like my pick for a different bowl game, comment with the name of the bowl game and I will be sure to share my thoughts.

SEC... A 14-Team Power Conference?

The Southeastern Conference (SEC) has been the workhorse of the college football world over the past half-century, bringing home the past five National Championships. As of recently though, other conferences have been losing and retrieving new teams as a possible way to keep up with the SEC. Teams that don’t automatically qualify (Non-AQ) for BCS bowl games; such as Boise State, Texas Christian (TCU) and Utah, have moved out of their previous conferences into new ones to gain the attention of voters. TCU and Boise State moved out of their old conferences into the Mountain West Conference (MWC) temporarily until they can move into the bigger conferences. TCU, who originally planned to move into the Big East conference as of 2012, has recently been in talks with the Big-12 conference. If TCU and the Big-12 come to an agreement, this could open the door for Boise State to move into the Big East (which in my opinion seems unintelligent). Utah, who was already a member of the MWC, moved to the PAC-12 conference, effective this year. But it’s not just the smaller schools that are moving. The University of Colorado recently moved out of the Big-12 conference into the Pac-12 conference to become the twelfth team (was recently names the Pac-10). The SEC has also been in talks with Texas A&M University, another Big-12 team. Texas A&M is almost guaranteed to join the SEC within the next few seasons, if not next season. The talk has been however who the 14th team will be. Rumors have swirled about the possibility of Missouri or Clemson being the 14th team, however none of these rumors have been confirmed. In my personal opinion, the following teams are the best candidates for the SEC’s 14th team.

• Clemson – The SEC currently has three states where two of the teams call home. (Alabama: Alabama and Auburn, Mississippi: Mississippi and Mississippi State, and Tennessee: Vanderbilt and Tennessee). Clemson could add a fourth state to the mix, with the SEC already having the University of South Carolina. Clemson also fits well in the SEC due to their location because of the conference alignment (Texas A&M will fall into the West while Clemson would fall into the East)
• West Virginia – Location again. Already located in the south (and could easily fall into the SEC – East), West Virginia fits perfectly. Also, the speed that the University of West Virginia seems to always have, would fit well in a fast paced SEC conference.

Look for the SEC to continue its supremacy as college football’s toughest conference, with or without the additions.

Natural Disasters

2011 has been a year of natural disasters. Earthquakes, floods, hurricanes, tornadoes and wildfires have ravaged the U.S. this year. As of September 6th, 1,764 tornadoes have been confirmed. Most of us probably remember the outbreak of tornadoes earlier this year (April 25-28th to be exact). 336 tornadoes were recorded in those three days (the largest outbreak of tornadoes ever recorded), four of which were strong enough to be rated EF5 (highest possible rating for a tornado). As well as the tornadoes, hurricanes are making there mark as well. With Hurricane Season in full swing, three storms have begun to brew (one in the Gulf of Mexico, and two in the Atlantic Ocean). Katia, Maria, and Nate have sprung onto weather radars only a few weeks after Hurricane Irene left the eastern seaboard with $10.1 billion dollars in total damage. On top of these hurricanes, it is estimated that the current Texas wildfire has already racked up over $1 billion dollars in total damage. With all of the major events that took place last year, and even more this year, I strongly believe that natural disasters are on the rise. The only thing that we can do is to make sure that we are prepared.

Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3 (Leaked Information & Expected Release Date)

Shortly after the release of the Call of Duty: Black Ops Escalation map pack, information on the latest Call of Duty game (Modern Warfare 3) was leaked through the internet. Not long after information began to spread, Activision released four teaser trailers, one in England, France, Germany and New York City. The idea that many are taking from the leaked information is that the game is supposed to be set in World War III and other countries bring the war to the heart of the United State, in New York City, New York. In the teaser trailer, the large city is being invaded by enemy troops through the sky and through the Hudson River. Leaked information also includes an “unprecedented online universe”. Although it is unknown what exactly the online universe is, many rumors are spreading. One rumor is that players and their custom made soldiers will run around a giant “Call of Duty world”, searching for matches. I personally believe that the online universe is more along the lines of cross-gaming. In other words, players with Modern Warfare 3 (MW3) for the Xbox 360 console will be able to play against players who own MW3 on the Playstation 3 console. The game is said to be released on November 8^th of this year, a date that is reliable since all of the other Call of Duty franchise games were released around the same date. When the game is released, I will be looking to see if the game can compete with the very intense Battlefield 3 rival, whose graphics are expected to blow Call of Duty’s away.

Western Conference Champs: Memphis Grizzlies?

This year’s NBA Playoffs have already left many fans bewildered. The Atlanta Hawks knocked off Dwight Howard and the Orlando Magic, which was a little shocking. But by far, the most jaw dropping event of the Playoffs this far, is the Memphis Grizzlies upset victory over the top-seeded San Antonio Spurs. The 61 win team dropped four of six games against the Grizzlies. The series win was the first in the franchise’s history. Led by Zach Randolph, Mike Conley & Marc Gasol (Paul Gasol’s younger brother), the Grizzlies crashed the boards, and attacked fearlessly inside the paint to shock the basketball world. The Grizzlies knocked off the team with the NBA’s second best record in the opening series, and took the momentum into Oklahoma City taking the first game of the series. So much for home court advantage. Zach Randolph had 34 points and added ten rebounds to lead the way. Marc Gasol added 20 points and 13 rebounds to help upend the Thunder in game one. The Thunder stole game two after jumping out to an early lead. The Grizzlies began the second quarter down by 11 points. They kept up the rest of the game, but they couldn’t cut the lead down and the Thunder won 111-102. Game three is Saturday at 5pm. I personally believe that the Grizzlies have a really good shot at the NBA Finals. If they can compete with the Thunder like they did in game one for the rest of the series, I feel that they can pull off another upset. Also, if Dallas can take their 2-0 series lead over the two-time defending champion L.A. Lakers, I believe that Memphis can pull of a third straight upset and advance to the Championship series. After all, the Grizzlies defeated the Dallas Mavericks three out of four games during the regular season.

Students Could Cost Parents Home

In Sarasota, skipping school is a habit that many students of Sarasota, Booker and Riverview high schools share. The agency in charge of providing homes for the lower-class families has released a plan to solve the issue: If your students do not show up in class, you will be evicted. Sarasota is the first city in the state of Florida to introduce this new law. Famous radio star, Bubba The Love Sponge, stated that "Maybe it will piss people off enough that they'll actually get off the public dime, so they don't have to answer to the government. Probably not.” I believe that this is a good idea to get students to stay in school, but the parents can only do so much. The parents can make sure that their kids get to school, but will the students actually stay? Does it then become the school's responsibility? Or if the kids leave campus under school hours, do the parents still lose their homes? There are a lot of questions that have been left unanswered and I feel that this is a law that should've been thought through a little bit more.

Al-Qaeda Leader, Osama bin Laden, "Brought To Justice"

As we have all heard by now, Osama bin Mohammed bin Awad bin Laden, or just Osama bin Laden, was killed by a group of Navy SEALS late last night night. After years of planning, CIA opperatives tracked a trusted Al Qaeda courier to bin Laden's hiding place. Although there was no proof of bin Laden's presence, President Barack Obama gave the order for the team of Navy SEALS to invade the million-dollar compound. Once in the compound, the SEALS began exchanging fire with bin Laden himself, and three others. The Navy SEALS demanded that bin Laden surrender, but when bin Laden began to fire his weapon, he was shot in the head, and shot once more to ensure his death. DNA results have come back confirming bin Laden's body. I belive that this particular topic is a toss-up, meaning it has it's goods and it's bads. It is an incredible feeling, knowing that the mass-murdering terroist bin Laden has finally been taken down after 10, very painful years. But on the flip-side, does this mean that al-Qaeda has been eliminated? Or does this mean that a more deadly and terrofying terorrist will take the reigns of al-Qaeda. How will al-Qaeda respond? I can only hope that this truly is the END of the war, the end of al-Qaeda, and we can bring our troops home.

Father Using Son To Cover Own Tracks?

Troy Bailey Sr., father of Troy Bailey Jr., dialed 911 frantically after his son shot and killed his mother, Julia Bennett. He stated that he accidently left the gun in reach of his son, his son picked up the gun and pulled the trigger. Neighbors, friends and relatives refuse to believe that the two year old Bailey Jr., could’ve picked up the 3-4 lbs. gun.
                “We’re not buying it,” said Hugh Pearce, Bailey Jr.’s uncle. “We just don’t think it happened that way… But we want to see the police finish their investigation.”
                I personally do not believe that a toddler can pick up a 3.5 lbs. gun, hold it, and fire it as well. Police are still trying figure out if this is an accident, or if the father shot the mother, and used his son to cover it up.
                Neighbors stated that police questioned the child and swabbed his mouth and checked his hands for gun powder residue. Police are also investigating the vantage point to determine if the bullet came from a shorter or taller height.
                As of right now, the boy is in the custody of Bennett’s sister Angela Thompson. “He asks about his mom,” said Thompson.
                Troy Bailey Sr., the father, is not aloud contact with his son, as police are still investigating the incident.

All Games Aside

Yesterday, American rapper, The Game, was detained after entering Canada as a part of his music tour. The Game, who's real name is Jayceon Terrell Taylor, is being detained in Canada for two weeks to process his inadmissibility. But why? According to TMZ.com, The Game was denied access into the country due to his ties with the 'Bloods' street gang. A representative of Substance Entertainment Group - the promotion company of The Game's Canadian tour - stated that, "concert organizers secured all permits and approval to get Game into the country." The west coast raper form Compton, California tweeted Wednesday that he will be detained for 14 days before being heard by a judge and that, "at that point the judge will decide either to deport me or give me a sentence for violating Canada's immigrant entry laws." He went on to state his opinion on the matter, using his wide variety of obscene profanity. While The Game believe's that Canada is violating his rights, someone should remind him that Canada does background checks when entering the country. If you have a criminal background, you will be denied access into Canada. The Game has had several encounters with the law including an assault charge, disorderly conduct and resisting arrest, and a felony weapons charge after a pick-up basketball game (I take it he lost?). The loud-mouth west coast rapper has nothing to complain about, especially if his court date goes in his favor and judges deport him back to the United States.

Duck, Duck, Snooze?

This Saturday, the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) fired another air traffic controller for catching some Z's on the job. It happened around midnight at the Miami Air Route Traffic Control Center. One of the other controllers noticed his sleeping colleague and reported the incident to the manager. While no aircraft calls were missed, this is the seventh time this year that an air traffic controller has been caught sleeping on the job, all of which happened during midnight shifts. The other similarity between the incidents is that all of the controllers  went to sleep deliberately. Controllers have been caught napping in Washington D.C., Knoxville, Seattle, Reno two cases in Lubbock, and now Miami. The FAA believes that fatigue and scheduling have played major roles in the recent outburst of job snoozers. FAA Administrator, Randy Babbitt and head of controller's union, Paul Rinaldi will begin a tour of many major air traffic control facilities. Their first stop will be at an Atlanta regional radar facility. 
"We are taking swift action to ensure the safety of our aviation system," said Ray LaHood, transportation secretary. "There is no excuse for air traffic controllers to be sleeping on the job. We will do everything we can to put an end to this."
I believe that making SCHEDULED visits to SOME major air traffic control facilities will not have any effect on this issue. That's like trying to throw a surprise birthday party for a psychic. He's going to act surprised, but he knew it before he even walked into the room. Visits shouldn't even matter in the first place. What are visits going to do, even if they are by surprise? Assuming you catch another guy sleeping on the job, you fire him, and don't teach anybody a lesson. I believe that they should shorten the hours of these workers or have the managers do consistent report-ins to ensure that his control guys aren't sleeping. This is a situation that should probably be handled. I mean after all, these are the guys that pilots count on to let them know if they're going to hit another plan or not.

Glee Star Gives Row Team Donation

I think that the Glee star, Jane Lynch's doation is not only a good thing for the row team, but a good thing for all of the other students. The row team probably doesn't receive that much attention and support from fellow students. Maybe when the students find out that a Golden Globe winner is donating money to us, they might want to check it out. It can also bring good publicity to our row team as well.

Fallen Officers

I believe that the parents of Nicholas Lindsey should not be held fully accountable for their son's actions. Although the parents probably should have found out that something was bothering their son, they had nothing to do with his actions. The person that should be held accountable is Lindsey, obviously, and whomever encouraged the shooting by giving him the gun. I think that the parents should of been more aware of their son's problems and probably should have solved it with the school, police officials or the officer himself. I don't think that if the officer had on his bullet-proof vest, things would've been different. If he had on the vest, and then got shot, things would just be flipped around because the officer would've then shot the student and we would be wondering if the officer handled the situation correctly. I personally believe that the break out of fallen police officers is an issue that the state and even the country (We're not the only state with this issue) should bump up this issue towards the top of our priority lists. Police officers have been protecting us from criminals for a long time, and now we need to do something to help protect them.

Teen Sensation Justin Bieber Cuts Hair

"I wanted to change it up," said Justin Bieber of his new hair style. "It's kind of 'mature' looking."
Bieber, who has been talking of cutting his hair for months, finally did so and is sending in his hair to charity to raise money for various causes, one of which includes animal rights. Back in December, the pop/hip-hop star stated, "I think after my movie, I might cut my hair a little shorter." To me, I think that it's something that a lot of people have been waiting on. Nobody really liked his hair that much and all of the 'hair flipping' that he did in all of his interviews. Maybe with shorter hair, talks of him being 'girly' will die down as well.

Americans Kidnapped & Killed By Somalian Pirates

When U.S. Naval forces arrived in an attmept to save the four hostages, gunshots were fired. When the U.S. Navy team gained control of the boat, they discovered that the four U.S. citizens had been shot to death. Two pirates were killed and 15 were arrested on Monday. These were the first deaths of Americans by pirates. The four boaters, Jean and Scotta Adam of California and Phyllis Macay and Bob Riggle of Seattle Washington had been sailing arond the world since 2004. I personally feel like something should be done to all pirates. The number of pirate attacks are rising every year.

Carmelo Anthony To New York

The New York Knicks landed Carmelo Anthony in a three-team trade including the Minnesota Timberwolves. The Denver Nuggets sent Anthony, Chauncey Billups, Sheldon Williams, Anthony Carter and Renaldo Balkman to the Knicks in exchange for Wilson Chandler, Raymond Felton, Danilo Gallinari, Timofey Mozgov and a 2014 first round pick. In order to clear some cap-room space, the Knicks got the Minnesota Timberwolves involved in the trade as well, sending Anthony Randolph and Eddy Curry (who the Nuggets refused to take) for Corey Brewer. I personally feel like the overall trade is good enough to satisfy Denver. New York definitely came out on the better end of the trade. I believe that the Nuggets should have tried to receiver more first-round picks than the 2014 pick that they received in the trade. I'm very interested in seeing what Denver's new starting line-up is going to look like. Denver will still be a .500 + team and New York is now a Eastern Conference contender, but still does not have enough talent to compete against the very competitive Eastern Conference.