...Weather

Wow this weekend's weather has been major. Can we blame it on Lee? Sure why not, though that only explains the weather in the South. College football games were stopped and restarted because of lightning strikes, some were even called early. Nascar was postponed until Tuesday. TUESDAY! I will be able to watch so I am okay with that. The NFL season starts this Thursday and next Sunday it will be back to football. I am sure the weather will be much much better but his Labor Day weekend has been very wet. I guess it matches the nation's mood. A lot of people are laborless so this 3 day weekend will feel the same as the weekends before. I am giving the weather a Digit Down.

...Jerry Richardson

Jerry Richardson is the owner of the Carolina Panthers, the team that drafted controversial Heisman Trophy winner Cam Newton. At their first meeting, Richardson asked the star quarterback whether he had either of those things. Newton responded, "No, sir." Richardson said he'd like to keep it that way. Though most of his team members have tattoos and earrings, I think Jerry is looking at Cam as a future star for the team and he wants him to stay as clean cut and marketable as possible. Why? Well look at the other controversial, for other reasons, Heisman Trophy winner all the way in Denver. Tim Tebow has yet to prove himself as a quarterback in the NFL. He may end up being the 4th string quarterback this year, but he has made millions from Gatorade, Jockey, etc. He has 0 piercings and 0 tattoos and he has a squeaky clean image. Could Cam Newton be like Tebow? Maybe, though Tebow is much more humbler than Newton, but they both have winning past. I am not a fan of tattoos, piercings I can handle. I do hope that Cam sticks with this idea, even if he goes to another team. I am giving Jerry Richardson 2 yes 2 Digits Up for having the gall to request this.

...Michael Koenen

In my hometown of Tampa, Florida $19 million dollars can buy you a lot. You can literally buy 4 or more homes on the beach and buy a high end car for each driveway. It is not the cheapest place to live, but it is one of the nicest bang for your buck cities in Florida, with an unusually high crime rate. In Tampa, Florida you can also buy Michael Koenen. Who is Michael Koenen? A punter, a punter who just received the biggest deal ever given to a punter in the NFL. The Tampa Bay Buccaneers gave him a 6 year $19.5 million dollar contract. Among punters with 50 or more punts last year, Koenen ranked 30th in the league with an average of 40.7 yards. His net average was 35.6 yards, 28th in the league. At dropping punts inside the 20-yard line, doing that 29 times last year, tied for eighth in the league. He put 23 balls in the end zone for touchbacks on the kickoff last year, good for third in the league, but with kickoffs moving up to the 35-yard line this year, a larger percentage of kickers will be able sail the ball into the end zone. Though Shane Lechler signed a deal with the Raiders in 2009 worth more per year ($16 million over four) and had more guarantees, this is still impressive. This is going to cost them in the long run if they fail to deliver. They have a good young quarterback and a chance, but this is still an odd move. However I am going to give Michael Koenen a Digit Up for making out like a bandit with this deal. By the way the Bandits used to be a football team in Tampa Bay during the United States Football League days... HA!

...NFL

The lockout is over. After 4 1/2 months and a possible threat to the regular NFL season the NFL is back. As a fan I am happy, and I know millions more across the nation are as well. I am giving this a Digit Up Below is a breakdown of what the new CBA (Collective Bargaining Agreement) consist of and what to look forward to.






1. Familiar free agency is back: Free agency returns to the way it was done from 1993 through 2009. A player needs four years of experience to become an unrestricted free agent. In the uncapped year of 2010, players needed six years of experience to hit the open market. That puts 448 players on the market, starting July 28. Owners tried and failed to slow the potentially hot market by asking for right-of-first-refusals on three players, but players vetoed that notion, complaining that 236 budding unrestricted free agents in 2010 were relegated to restricted free-agent status. Restricted free agency is limited to players with three years of experience.

2. Cap stands at $120.375 million: The salary cap is $120.375 million, but each team has the option of using a $3 million exemption this year on a signed player to free up some room. Next year, teams will have the option of designating three player exemptions at $1.5 million each. These are used to transition into a salary cap that decreased from $128 million in 2009. There is also a mandatory cash minimum payroll for each team at 89 percent of the cap, which translates into $107.1 million per team.

3. Rookie wage scale 2.0: In 1993, owners thought they had a hard, unbreakable rookie wage system, but agents broke it by negotiating option bonuses, escalator clauses and one-time bonuses. The new rookie wage scale is supposed to cut top rookie contracts by more than 50 percent. First-round picks get four-year deals in which the club holds a fifth-year option. There are slotted four-year deals from Rounds 2 through 7. Here's the discount. Cam Newton, the first pick in this year's draft, would be eligible for a four-year, $22.03 million contract. If the Panthers keep him for a fifth year, his salary would be at the average of the top 10 salaries of other quarterbacks. One unique part about the new system is it should prevent long holdouts. At some point in August, unsigned draft choices lose their leverage if they aren't signed. There is another clause that prevents draft picks from holding out after they sign. If he holds out during the deal, he is prohibited from renegotiating his contract. There is a limit to the amount of money given to rookies. The max total in 2011 is $874 million.

4. Minimum salaries going up: One of the selling points for the players is an increase in the minimum salaries. Owners have agreed to a 10-12 percent increase in the minimum salary structure. Rookies, for example, would go from $330,000 to $375,000. The increases go to $450,000 for second-year players, $525,000 for third-year players, $600,000 for fourth-year players, $685,000 for players with five-to-seven years of experience, $810,000 for players with eight-to-10 years of experience and $910,000 for players with more than 10 years of experience.

5. Franchise tags: Although this was one of the last big issues being contested by the players, there will be no change in a team's ability to annually place a franchise or transition tag on a top player to retain his rights. Players were pushing for a system in which players could be franchised only once. That would free up Drew Brees of the Saints for free agency next year and stop the Colts from franchising Peyton Manning next year. Owners voted to move ahead with the deal without that change.

WINNERS

• The owners and the players. Call it a tie. Each got a little something they wanted, and most important, each will get a lot of money. The owners now will keep 52 percent of the revenues, not the 47 percent from the previous collective bargaining agreement that so rankled them, but they also will have to operate with a $120 million salary cap, with an additional approximately $20 million for benefits, and have a guaranteed spend. That guaranteed spend was important to the players, and they got it. In the end, the owners and players are splitting more than $9 billion. No one is losing.

• Roger Goodell and DeMaurice Smith. Sure, both men took hits, and the rhetoric, at times, was ugly. But the two men were able to keep their constituents together. Neither had massive factions develop, and Smith put together a sharp executive committee to negotiate.

Although they probably never will have the close, collegial relationship Paul Tagliabue and Gene Upshaw enjoyed, Goodell and Smith worked together to close the deal and keep the owners and players from losing games. That was the ultimate goal.

• The lawyers. Goodell was right when he kept hammering home the point that a new collective bargaining agreement would not be negotiated in the courts, it would be negotiated at the table. The various court cases created leverage for each side, but ultimately it only benefitted the lawyers, who earned hundreds of millions of dollars in legal fees.

• Veteran players. Life just got a little easier for them.

Minimum salaries will be increased, so that is a win. Also, the offseason got five weeks shorter, and easier. Coaches cannot make players report to team facilities until late April. There will be four fewer organized team activities, fewer full-contact practices in the preseason and regular season and a lower limit to the amount of practice time and contact.

These will be welcome changes, particularly to the older players. Coaches like practices in full pads. Players, not so much.

• The city of Indianapolis. All that was at stake for Indy was the projected $400 million economic boost from hosting Super Bowl XLVI on Feb. 5 at Lucas Oil Stadium. The league had asked the city to keep two weeks open, in the event they had to push back the date for the Super Bowl. Now, the city can welcome upward of 150,000 cash-carrying people who will descend upon Indianapolis, stay in its hotels, eat in its restaurants, drink in its bars and ride in its cabs.


LOSERS

• The plaintiffs in Brady v. the NFL, particularly Logan Mankins and Vincent Jackson. They got nothing for putting their name on the lawsuit filed against their employer, not money nor leverage nor freedom. To hear Mankins' agent tell it, they did not even get clear communication from the union's lawyers, particularly Jeff Kessler.

Mankins and Jackson have been portrayed as greedy, asking for a cash settlement for their efforts. Frank Bauer, Mankins' agent, told ESPN senior NFL analyst Chris Mortensen that Mankins has not made monetary demands.

"We haven't talked to Jeff Kessler," Bauer said. "There has been no communication, but it's irresponsible to report Logan has made monetary demands. Are we disappointed there has been no communication? Hugely. He trusted the union and Kessler to fight for Logan Mankins and the other players."

• The first-round draft picks. Oh, to be Sam Bradford, the last No. 1 overall pick to land the monster first contract. Last year, without ever having thrown a pass for the St. Louis Rams, Bradford got a six-year, $78 million contract with $50 million guaranteed. Cam Newton, this year's No. 1 overall pick, will make roughly half that in his first contract with the Carolina Panthers.

The first-round picks will not really cash in until their fifth year, when the teams will have the option to extend the first-rounder's contract at what the league called "agreed-upon tender amounts." That is not Bradford or Matthew Stafford money, not even close.

• As a result, the agents. Because the rookie contracts will be significantly less, so too will be the agents' haul. Also, the new deal will reduce agent fees for rookie contracts from a maximum of 3 percent to a maximum of 2 percent beginning in 2012.

So not only will the agents be taking a percentage of a smaller contract than they had in the past, that percentage will be even smaller. For agents, this is very, very bad news.

• The Hall of Fame game. It has been canceled. Good news for the Chicago Bears and St. Louis Rams, who will not have to rush to get ready for the Aug. 7 game, bad news for the city of Canton and the Pro Football Hall of Fame. Now all 32 teams will play four preseason games apiece, not five, as the Bears and Rams would have done had the game been played.

It is only fair, after an irregular offseason, that the teams open training camps at the same time and play the same number of games.

• The fans. Yes, there will be football in the fall, but the fans had to listen to all of this nonsense for more than four months.

The draft was not as fun because no trades involving players could happen. There were no practices or signings or depth charts, no look at how the draft picks will fit in.

In essence, the NFL has been the No Fun League.

...Jay Cutler and Kristin Cavallari

Jay Cutler and Kristin Cavallari started dating Fall of last year. This April he asked her to marry him and she excepted. They never seemed to match and he seemed like he could care less about her lifestyle. Well now it has been reported that they will not be getting married after all. Jay Cutler has called off the wedding just weeks before their wedding. Why? Who knows just yet. Like most people when I found out they were dating I thought, "He is not good looking, but he has money." I will still assume she was marrying him for money, mainly. He was marrying her because she is the "hot chick", though she sounds very annoying to me. He is a Basset Hound and she is a feisty Chihuahua, if they were to get married it would have ended in an expensive divorce...for him. According to a source close to Kristin, "She got dumped. She's absolutely devastated. She can't believe this is happening. "She was planning her dream wedding, the date was set, the location, everything was set. She's in shock that the dream wedding she was planning is going to end this way." I guess I should be a little empathetic and show sympathy towards her right not, but I cannot. This has nothing to do with her roles on Laguna Beach or The Hills, that was all an act and she was young and dumb...er then. I just do not care. He has a football image to repair after basically giving up in the NFC Championship game last season and he has to get ready ASAP for the new season, whenever the lockout ends. I am giving this a Digit Up because anyway you slice it, it was going to end with the two of them separating somehow.

...AEG

AEG has been leading the way when it comes to bringing a NFL team back to Los Angeles. They already have, somehow, secured the naming rights to a stadium that has yet to be built nor have they purchased land for it. That has not stopped them from talking to teams though. As AEG owner Philip Anschutz said in an interview with the Orange County Register, "St. Louis, Jacksonville, not extensively, certainly Oakland, San Diego, Minnesota are still in the mix. We're not packing any [moving] vans right now." Oddly enough though it will cost them $1.35 billion, at this point in time, to build a stadium, but AEG is also committing to write checks to cover any bridge between a debt on stadium bonds and revenue created. They may have the upper hand. Whenever the current NFL lockout end the bill for that will fall in the lap of Roger Goodell. The best way for him to save his money would be to facilitate the sale of a team, or the expansion of the league, and the fees those moves generally put in the pockets of all owners. So it will basically be like buying a house when the market is down in your dream neighborhood because the owners were forced to sell...something like that. Either way it seems like AEG is going to get a team within the next 3 years which kind of sucks for me because I wanted to own a NFL team and move them to L.A. but this does mean I do not have to pay those crazy Cali taxes and I could buy any other team, except for the Packers, for a lot less. I am giving AEG a Digit Up, though this could backfire on them 10 years down the road.

...Jim Tressel

So as you may know Jim Tressel resigned as head football coach of the Ohio State Buckeyes. This comes after months of lies, scandals and cover-ups stemming from an incident that in which players received cash and discounted tattoos from the owner of a local tattoo parlor who was the subject of a federal drug-trafficking case. Tressel said that the ongoing investigations were a distraction for himself and the team. I assume he though tit would be best if he resigned. He and 5 other players were already suspened the 1st 5 games of the upcoming season. Tressel signed a NCAA compliance form in September stating he had no knowledge of any wrongdoing by athletes. His contract, in addition to NCAA rules, specified that he had to tell his superiors or compliance department about any potential NCAA rules violations. Instead he chose to forward emails to Ted Sarniak, reportedly a mentor for Pryor back in his hometown of Jeannette, Pa. I am going to end that there and talk about how sad and stupid this is. Tattoos!!!! Seriously? You did this over tattoos and cash. It is well known that many student athletes are broke and hungry. A lot of them receive illegal cash payments from boosters and outsiders looking to get a piece of their future pie or to just do whatever it takes to get a championship and money for their school. Whatever the case is do student athletes need to be paid for their participation? Possibly. This has been an issue for years and some say yes and others say no. How much would they be paid? What sports deserve the most money for their athletes? Many other questions come up but so far no solution. A lot of fans are going to be upset with Pryor for what they see as getting their football coach fired. This is understandable and he should accept it. While I agree with their anger I would like them to eventually get over it. While he is a man, he is a young man, and he will make many more mistakes, though this may be the biggest one. I am giving Jim Tressel a Digit Up for owning his mistake and not taking anyone down with him. He was willing to impose a 5 game suspension on himself, and now he is will to lose his job to try his best to take the heat off of Ohio State before the season starts.

...Laura Vikmanis

I am always complaining about how Hollywood has no original ideas and whatnot. Well Hollywood got one, sort of, and they are going to use it to punish me. Laura Vikmanis is the NFL's oldest cheerleader at age 42. She cheers for the Cincinnati Bengals and she is about to be forced on us because she is getting her life story told in the form of a movie. Are you kidding me? The film will be penned by Emily Cook and Kathy Greenberg, who co-wrote the animated film "Gnomeo and Juliet", which makes sense because this is only amovie that women would truly be interested in, or think they are interested in. I am already ready for this movie not to be a smash hit, a box office failure. You can listen to her sob story below. While you do that I will be giving her a Digit Down.

...The NFL

I am going to be completely honest; I have no idea what is going on in the NFL. I know for sure that there was no agreement reached between the owners and the players. I know that the players or the NFLPA (National Football League Player's Association) has decertified, but what does that mean? I know that there may be class action lawsuits to prevent the NFL from issuing a lockout. I know that the NFL plans on going forward with a lockout. I know all of that and some, but the legal issues are mind boggling. So much was up for discussion: an 18 game season, rookie salary caps, player minimum salary raised, retied player's benefits, etc. So since I can not wrap my mind around what is going on let us see if the experts and those in the thick of things can better help us all understand.




Did that help you at all? Probably not. Why? Because no one really knows! This is horrible. I am sure this will not be resolved anytime soon. We may all end up missing some football come this September. This is automatically getting 2 Digits Down from me and millions of fans across the nation, maybe the world but not really, unless you count American service members in other countries. The only way I will reverse this is if Brett Favre come back and has the season of his life! Topping it of with a Super Bowl championship.

...Michael Vick

Michael Vick has cancelled his interview with Oprah, what a rare event. The interview was to cover Vick's time in prison, his work with the Humane Society and his return to the NFL. There has been talk all week about it. Oprah made a bet with Piers Morgan on who would land an interview with Vick 1st, Oprah won...so we thought. Although Vick said he cancelled for personal reasons it has been said that he cancelled because of pressure from the Eagles owners and those in charge of the team. There was talk that maybe he would have to face some of the owners of the dogs he fought against, which I do not think is true at all. I think that even though Oprah would have given him a great chance to add to his new positive reputation, I think it is best that he did not do the show. People are starting to forgive him and even forget what he did, some not all. This happen like 4 years ago, the time to strike was 2 years ago, or even last season when he actually made his 'comeback". To do the show now would just reopen an old scar and people would get very angry again. Basically, the time has passed and I am okay with him cancelling. Digit Up.

...Farmers Field

Well Los Angeles does not have a football team nor do they even have a stadium to host them, the coliseum will not due anymore, also they do not have a approval for a stadium to be built. With all of that said there is one thing they have, naming rights! Famers Insurance has agreed to pay $700 million for 30 years on their future, maybe, stadium. Terms of the deal were not released but a person familiar with the negotiations told The Associated Press that AEG would get $700 million over 30 years if the firm builds the 64,000-seat venue, to be called Farmers Field, and secures an NFL team to play there. In any case, AEG promises Farmers a minimum of 50 events per year, with an attendance of at least 40,000 per event. AEG, the company building the stadium who also owns and operates the Staples Arena, has promised to put more than $1 billion toward construction costs, but is not above sweet-talking the L.A. City Council into helping out with the rest with $350 million in public bonds. Majestic Realty Co. Vice President John Semcken said after Leiweke briefed a City Council committee last week that the bond arrangement would leave the city saddled with debt. Majestic wants to build a stadium as well, but they are not nearly as far along as AEG. Either way this is okay, no team has committed to moving there so there is just money in the air. Al Davis, owner of the Oakland Raiders, said if they build a stadium he would move back to L.A. Yay...? I wanted to bring football back to L.A., but that seems to be fading. Oh well.I will just buy a team and move them to Oklahoma or something. I am giving this a Digit Up, why not.

...Andrew Luck

All year long I heard about how good Andrew Luck was and how he had a shot at the Heisman Trophy, and it was all true. Over the season I became a fan, he was like a more realistic Tim Tebow and he was not being shoved in my face every time I turned to ESPN, thanks to Cam Newton. If Cam Newton was found guilty of the whole "pay for play" scandal or if Auburn would have lost a game or two then Andrew Luck might have won the Heisman, but that did not happen and he came in a distant 2nd place. Luckily people predicted that he could become the 1st overall pick in the NFL draft with a shot at a $40-$60 million contract. With all of that being said today Andrew Luck let it be known that he will be returning to Stanford next year and he will not be entering the NFL draft. Everyone is wondering why!?! Does he want a BCS Championship? The Heisman? No, a degree, a degree in architecture. Who cares!!! We all remember how Sam Bradford skipped the draft, came back the next year and got injured and was out for the season, this could happen... Also something more serious, the NFL is mulling a major change in the rookie pay scale after the 2011 season which could ultimately cost Luck more than $40 million, and possibly as much as $60 million, even if he is the 1st player off the board next year. He could always go back to school, or not. If he gets injured in the NFL he would still have millions in bonus and guaranteed money. If he gets injured in college, he gets remembered as that kid who could have been. Also what if his coach does not return? NFL teams are trying hard to get him. Without his current coach Luck may be out of Luck. HA! I used it. And if that does not help him, take a trip to Washington and ask Jake Locker how it feels to go from a possible top draft pick last year to a nobody this year. Besides if there is one thing that we all learned int his recession; degrees are worthless. CEO's work at Pizza Hut while college dropouts become millionaires...billionaires. I am going to have to give Andrew Luck a Digit Down. On a serious note, maybe they should check this kid's head out for possible concussion trauma.

...Mike Adams, Dan Herron, DeVier Posey, Terrelle Pryor and Solomon Thomas

Mike Adams, Dan Herron, DeVier Posey, Terrelle Pryor and Solomon Thomas are all members of the Ohio State Buckeyes football team, college. These guys were found guilty of rules violations according to the NCAA. What did they do? Get free tattoos in exchange for autographs as well as selling some memorabilia for cash for their families. Now they will be punished. Although they have a game coming up soon, the Sugar Bowl against Arkansas, they will still be able to play that game, but they will have to sit out the 1st 5 games of the 2011 season! I find tattoos crass and Pyror alone has enough for the whole team so to think he was getting more makes me ugh. He and others got caught giving away autographs for tattoos! It makes you wonder if they have a problem. if you cannot afford them, do not get them, and even if you can, think it over for a decade. Beyond that they also sol d items such as trophies and awards that they thought they owned but apparently the schooled owned them, odd I know. They wanted the money so that they could give it to their families, awww. But now they will be out of the 1st 5 games, some of them hoping that 2011 would be their best season, their BCS Bowl season. Apparently one of the members has even started his paperwork for the NFL draft, but the coach would not say. Here is a list of the guys and what they actually did.
• Adams must repay $1,000 for selling his 2008 Big Ten championship ring.
• Herron must repay $1,150 for selling his football jersey, pants and shoes for $1,000 and receiving discounted services worth $150.
• Posey must repay $1,250 for selling his 2008 Big Ten championship ring for $1,200 and receiving discounted services worth $50.
• Pryor must repay $2,500 for selling his 2008 Big Ten championship ring, a 2009 Fiesta Bowl sportsmanship award and his 2008 Gold Pants, a gift from the university.
• Solomon must repay $1,505 for selling his 2008 Big Ten championship ring for $1,000, his 2008 Gold Pants for $350 and receiving discounted services worth $155.
• Jordan Whiting must sit out the first game next year and pay $150 to a charity for the value of services that were discounted because of his status as a student-athlete.

The NCAA is a tad harsh sometimes, and this could be one of those times. 5 games in the NCAA is a major deal. If you lose 1 game you just lost you shot at the title. I know the seniors are going to be pissed, but what can they do? I look at this and think, Cam Newton was not the dirty quarterback....it was Terrelle Pryor the whole time! I am sure that these guys made a few honest mistakes but it has cost the whole team a title, we all just know this. I am giving them all a Digit Down.

...Tony Romo

I have finally made it around to it. Tony Romo is engaged to 24-year-old sports reporter Candice Crawford, sister of actor Chace Crawford of Gossip Girl fame. He proposed to her on her birthday as well. This is funny because on Jessica Simpson's birthday, possibly his most famous ex girlfriend, he broke up with her, after she bought him a $30,000 boat for his birthday. All is well though. Jessica is engaged and her ex husband is engaged as well. Not much tot say about this really. I could say that while Jessica was blamed for the Cowboy's troubles when they started losing, no one has blamed this chick for him being out for the rest of the season with an injury. Anyway I will give Romo a Digit Up for getting engaged... That is all I have actually.

...Brett Favre

I'm so sad to report that the streak is over. After 18 years and 297 consecutive starts in a sport as hard and brutal on the body, Brett Favre failed to start due to an injury. Brett Favre as we know is my football hero. I love watching him play and I know that this may be his last season and it saddens me, but his streak ending saddens me even more because some think that he may not be able to return for anymore games this season. Is it wrong to feel like you want to cry? A little sad? A little angry? A little bitter? I mean if T.O. can cry about his quarterback I think I can as well. He has had a laundry list of injuries, and he has always come back and played. Here are just some of his injures:
Dec 03, 2010 Ankle, neck, right shoulder
Nov 26, 2010 Ankle, foot, right shoulder
Nov 19, 2010 Ankle, foot
Nov 12, 2010 Ankle, foot, calf
Nov 05, 2010 Foot, ankle, chin
Oct 31, 2010 Chin Oct 29, 2010 Foot, ankle
Oct 25, 2010 Left ankle
Oct 22, 2010 Ankle, right elbow
Oct 15, 2010 Ankle, right elbow
Oct 09, 2010 Ankle, right elbow
Sep 24, 2010 Ankle, right elbow
Sep 17, 2010 Ankle/back
Sep 08, 2010 Ankle
Dec 11, 2009 Not injury related
Nov 20, 2009 Groin, hip
Nov 13, 2009 Hip/groin
Oct 30, 2009 Hip
Oct 09, 2009 Foot/ankle/knee
Oct 03, 2009 Foot Sep 26, 2008 Ankle
Dec 07, 2007 Right elbow, left shoulder
Nov 29, 2007 0 Left game - forearm
Sep 28, 2007 Finger (right)
Nov 29, 2006 Right elbow
Nov 22, 2006 Right elbow
Nov 20, 2006 0 Right arm
Nov 15, 2006 Ankle
Oct 04, 2006 Head
Dec 07, 2005 Right Hand/Right Forearm
Sep 07, 2005 Ankle
Oct 27, 2004 Right hand
Oct 06, 2004 Concussion
Sep 29, 2004 Hamstring
Jan 07, 2004 Thumb
Dec 31, 2003 Thumb
Dec 24, 2003 Thumb
Dec 17, 2003 Thumb
Dec 10, 2003 Thumb
Dec 03, 2003 Thumb
Nov 26, 2003 Thumb
Nov 12, 2003 Thumb
Nov 05, 2003 Thumb
Oct 29, 2003 Thumb
Jan 02, 2003 Ankle/knee
Dec 26, 2002 Knee/ankle
Dec 18, 2002 Knee/ankle
Oct 30, 2002 Knee
Oct 20, 2002 Sprained left knee
Oct 09, 2002 Elbow
Jan 16, 2002 Back/side
Jan 09, 2002 Side/back
Jan 02, 2002 Side/back
Nov 29, 2001 Back

They would not let him suit up and take a snap? He did not want to but I am sure he could have been talked into it. Maybe Peyton Manning will get injured and he will not be able to break the record, who knows. For now it is all Brett's. I am giving this news 2 Digits Down. I can see the sunset nearing.... The video below gets it.

...Auburn and Cam Newton

Today I watched an awesome, beyond awesome college football game. Auburn vs. Alabama in the "Iron Bowl". It looked like Alabama was going to beat Auburn soundly, but things just did not work out that in the end. I sat and watched Cam Newton lead Auburn back from a 24-0 deficit to win this game 28-27! It was an exciting game full of ups and downs. With all of the drama surrounding Auburn and especially Cam Newton over the past month it seemed as if the pressure had finally gotten to him. Alabama's defense overpowered Auburn leaving them with 0 first downs and 2 yards of offense for the first 2 quarters. Auburn's defense stepped up stripping Alabama of the ball, keeping them from gaining yards and sacking Alabama's QB. After seeing this great performance I am ready to let Auburn walk away with the BCS Championship and hand the Heisman Trophy over to Cam Newton, even if he has it taken away 5 years from now...maybe. I am sure they will beat Oregon easily, maybe not, but I will most definitely be rooting for Auburn. I am giving Auburn and Cam Newton 2 Digits Up. I was not a fan before, but now I am.

...The Minnesota Vikings

Well the Minnesota Vikings finally fired their head coach Brad Childress less than a year after he took them to the NFC Championship game. After a horrible 31-3 loss to Green Bay Sunday the owner just said eh and fired him. Of course there were a lot of other things such as their 3-7 record this season, the waiving of Randy Moss without the owner's knowledge, the grumblings of other players saying they had no respect or trust for him. When the cards are stacked against you like that, not much else you can do. What will happen to the Vikings now? Their season is over, unless somehow they win the last 6...DREAMS. People are wondering how long Brett Favre will last as the starting quarterback or if he will even finish the season. The Vikings are obviously a huge bust this season and no one could have thought it would be this bad for them. I do not see Favre returning, although I would love to see him play until the age of 43, but with everything that has happened to him on and off the field....yeah. Next season may just be their comeback season, especially if Rice is healthy and all of the other players, the main players, are giving 110%. I am going to give the Minnesota Vikings a Digit Down for this season. It is just a great disappointment.

...Sports

Such a great day for sports, sort of. Only 2 downsides; Jeff Gordan crashed and The Hawks finally lost their 1st game. But other than that the Vikings won, the Packers won, F1 is going to come down to 1 race to decide it all, etc. So I guess I will add on to it by finally showing this LeBron response video made by the great people of Cleveland. I found it humorous and honest and of course I am going to give it a Digit Up!

...The Oakland Raiders

Wow! The Oakland Raiders scored 59 points, the most in the team's history. They scored these points on the Denver Broncos, their longtime rival, holding them to only 14 points. The running-back alone scored 4 times on them. This is pretty good because the Raiders have been the laughing stock of the NFL, well the Lions might be worse. Everyone knew they had the potential, they just though tit was left in the 80's, joke. In a 7 game stretch last season the Raiders managed to only score 55 points, but in 3 hours they topped that. They improved their record to 3-4, second in the AFC West. Could they be Super Bowl contenders? Possibly actually, and that is a tad scary. If they were to make it to the Super Bowl, or dare I say win it, this could make Al Davis' dream of moving back to Los Angeles a little closer to reality, especially since Magic Johnson is looking to buy a team (Jaguars) and bring them to Los Angeles, and even more so because Al Davis said he would not sell the team or retire until the Raiders won another Super Bowl, which at this moment in time is not longer a pipe dream. Digit Up Raiders.

...Charlotte Motor Speedway

While watching NASCAR I remembered hearing about Charlotte Motor Speedway and Panasonic making a deal to build a huge video board along the back of the track. Huge may be an understatement sense it will be the world's largest. It is planed to be installed by next year's Coca-Cola 600. This is what the track's website had to say about it:

-At an incredible length of 200 feet wide, standing 80 feet tall and weighing 165,000 pounds, the video board will cover an expansive 16,000 square feet and be located between Turns 2 and 3 along the backstretch of the legendary super speedway. Fans seated throughout the front stretch from Turn 4 to Turn 1 will have clear viewing angles of the gigantic board that will feature 720P high-definition visuals illuminated by more than nine million light emitting diode, or LED, lamps.

Sounds massive. If you are familiar with sports then you will know that currently Cowboy's Stadium houses the largest board, but after this goes up that will be yesterday's news. The one is Dallas cost $40 million, but no word yet on how much this one will cost. This just further inspires me to build a massive house and install a television even larger than this one, which is possible. I am giving this news a Digit Up.