The Black Eye and The Eye Black

LOOK IN THE MIRROR NOTRE DAME

THE BLACK EYE:

How ironic the two top stories in college football this week--maybe in some respects this season--were epitomized in the eyes of both schools high profile QB's.

Venerable Notre Dame, struggling with what to do about head coach Charlie Weis, is led onto the field by Jimmie Clausen sporting a black eye, no doubt put there by a classy ND fan disappointed at the unreal expectations and their wanton greed, lust and gluttony. Speculation on my part to be sure, but does anyone, ANYONE believe that Clausen gets "sucker-punched" by a ND fan on his own turf--in the shadows of touchdown Jesus--if the Golden Domers are 11-1 or 10-2, like they thought they would be coming into this season? I DON'T.

This is a train wreck that has been years in the making. Frustrated alumni and administrators, blinded with keeping their exclusive TV contract and getting back to the top, have driven this program into forgetting who they are and what they represent.

It goes back to how they handled Bob Davie, Ty Willingham and now Charlie Weis. Do these two groups of jack-asses (ND alumni and administrators) honestly believe they are going to get a coach more qualified than Charlie Weis? Do they still believe that they can compete at the highest levels of college football today and maintain their high academic and graduation standards? You play schools like Stanford and Navy for a reason. They are your academic peers and your football peers as well. If you want to step up and compete with Oklahoma and USC and the other football factories, changes other than the head coach will have to be made.

And those changes will result in a definitive change in who the university IS and what they REPRESENT. This university is going to make a statement above and beyond a head coaching change by this decision. I hope if they decide to sell their soul, they get proper recompense. Good Luck.

If they do decide to make the change, I find it ironic that the guy who would be the best fit for the program is never mentioned as a candidate--Buffalo's head coach Turner Gill. I have not heard his name mentioned even as a long shot candidate. The candidates I have heard mentioned are an early indication as to WHY Gill doesn't make the list. The winds of change are blowing around South Bend. And it is an ill wind indeed.

It is perhaps a bit of irony mixed with proper symbolism that Clausen represents the university sporting a black eye. Notre Dame may be looking at giving itself a self-inflicted black eye later this week.

THE EYE BLACK:

While all this is going on, balance is provided in the eye black of Tim Tebow.



PROVERBS 3:5-6

“Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding; in all your ways acknowledge him, and he will make your paths straight.”

Has there been a better college football player rolled up into a finer human being than Tim Tebow? If there is a "character" clause attached to the Heismann voting, then I am not sure how Tebow doesn't win his second trophy this year.

Somehow, I don't think he would be as bothered as I would be if he is not selected. Nor do I think the "Tebow as NFL prospect" detractors bother him as much as they bother me. All the kid does is win. Similar knocks came against Steve Young and they had similar games coming out of college. Last time I checked Steve Young is in the NFL Hall of Fame. Now he could end up more like Danny Weurfell than Steve Young, but that's fine. In a sense, Tebow's gifts would be somewhat under-utilized in the NFL as opposed to where his future lies after football.

The kid is truly inspirational not only to his teammates--a tough crowd to influence with the message Tim delivers--but to coaches and fans alike. He's made being self-less cool to an age group that is normally considered more remarkable for their aloofness and self-centeredness.



If we are to believe the Google trends feature, his messages in eye black have inspired more Bible research than a Fellowship of Christians Athletes bible study class. His verses are at the top of the Google search list after each new listing is perched under his eyes.

FROM THE BLOG TEBOW'S EYE BLACK
http://www.tebowseyeblack.com/

Tebow's Eye black represents how something small can make a big impact in a world full of noise. It is amazing that a college football player's eye black can generate 94 million searches on Google.

He wears his Christianity openly and remarkably in a culture that has drifted toward stifling such speech as if it were proselytising or some other form of "hate speech".



TEBOW ON HIS FAITH:

"People are never going to believe it if it's something that you're telling them and it's something that you're beating them over the head with," Tebow said. "That's not going to influence anyone. It's not. How you're going to influence someone is if they see something in you that seems different or seems special or they see something in you and think, 'Wow, that's really cool. I want to look into that.'
"It's not because I'm forcing anything on anyone or not because I'm trying to push it. I don't do that at all. I try to make it part of my life, just like it is, and I'd never deny it or force it. But I'll always have it part of my life. That's just me. I hope that people can see how it affects my life and how I'm so passionate about it and what it does in my life."

And he does it the way he leads--by example.



How cool is it that 1st Timothy 1:5 says?:

The goal of this command is love, which comes from a pure heart and a good conscience and a sincere faith

Tebow may not hear his name called in the draft exactly where he may like and some may say unkind things about his football play, but I have every confidence that he will hear those most precious of words said about him, "Well done, good and faithful servant" and he will not be kept waiting for his eternal reward.

Post Season baseball awards and AFL results

Cy Young Award winners:
AL - Zach Greinke
NL - Tim Lincecum

MVP Award winners:
AL - Joe Mauer
NL - Albert Pujols

I can't argue against either of these four choices. Mauer may be the face of baseball as Jeter moves on in years, a solid, Ripken-Jeter personality that will help market the game for the next ten years. Pujols is making up for the years he was blocked by Bonds. Greinke and Lincecum both toiled for sub-par teams with dominance and flair.

Special congratulations to Tim Lincecum for his second consecutive Cy Young. Timmy may have benefited from a tug of war among voters to figure out who was the top Cardinal candidate. The vote splitting between Carpenter and Wainwright had to help Lincecum.

Is it just me or does it seem as if voters are more likely to reward a pitcher from a bad team who pitches at the elite level but less likely to do the same for a hitter? I know Andre Dawson won NL MVP a while back, but I see that and raise you a Steve Carlton. It just seems like here is a different standard for hitters--perhaps because they are out there every day--as far as voters holding them more accountable for a teams success.

Anyway, maybe this balances out the infraction with the pipe. At least he didn't pull an Angel Villalona and cap somebody....allegedly. Maybe somebody should tell Timmy he's about to become the face of the franchise and be paid accordingly, he can't be getting caught with a bowl of weed like he was some high school junior in his mom's car. Embarrassing.

Speaking of prospects, future starting catcher Buster Posey did in fact flirt with the Mendoza line for most of the Arizona Fall League before "rallying" to end somewhere around the "Bud Harrelson" line. Even more disturbing was the increased strike out rate. Somewhere in the 100+ K's per 500 AB's rate. I don't know if this is enough for Sabean to go cuckoo for Benji Molina or if perhaps bringing in a veteran backup catcher who could play a week or two at a time may be the better answer.

I would have preferred that Posey cleared things up with a knockout AFL stint, but he didn't, so the door is open for Sabean mischief and tom-foolery. Hopefully, they've instituted some sort of multiple levels of organizational sign off before he goes running naked through the field of old, overpriced free-agents with the corporate checkbook in one hand and Lord knows what else in the other.

On a brighter note, both OF Thomas Neal and SS Brandon Crawford both hit around or over the .300 mark most of the year. Both should begin next year at AA-AAA level and will be no more than a phone call away.

I didn't see anything out of any of the pitcher's stats that made me think a major league position was in the future. But I could be wrong.

U.S. National Debt Clock : Real Time (ticking time bomb)

NOT A PRETTY PICTURE IS IT?


Tick, tick, tick, tick, BOOM!!!

U.S. National Debt Clock : Real Time

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"In the absence of the gold standard, there is no way to protect savings from confiscation through inflation... This is the shabby secret of the welfare statists' tirades against gold. Deficit spending is simply a scheme for the confiscation of wealth. Gold stands in the way of this insidious process. It stands as a protector of property rights. If one grasps this, one has no difficulty in understanding the statists' antagonism toward the gold standard." - Alan Greenspan (pre-Fed Chairman days)




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"I am myself persuaded, on the basis of extensive study of the historical evidence, that... the severity of each of the contractions - 1920-21, 1929-33, and 1937-38 - is directly attributable to acts of commission and omission by the Reserve authorities and would not have occurred under earlier monetary and banking arrangements." - Milton Friedman

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JUST A BAD SITUATION GETTING WORSE

END THE FED - RETURN TO THE GOLD STANDARD

Unsustainable at these levels....

Three key economic levels have been reached recently that have led us to the economic crisis we face today and may face in the near future.

1) Governments spending beyond their means producing unsustainable levels of debt.
2) Household or consumer spending rose beyond levels that can be reasonably sustained.
3) Levels of home ownership were propelled to levels that could not be sustained by consumers, banks and mortgage lenders.

In example one, government is guilty of being greedy and somewhat less than prudent. In the second example, consumers got carried away and borrowed beyond their means. In example three, the guilt should be shared by GOVERNMENT AND CONSUMERS as well as financial firms. All acted in their own SELF-INTEREST and all got caught playing too close to the fire and got burned.

It's time for ALL parties to take ownership of their part in development of the crisis, instead of just demonizing one party or group. (does that sound familiar?)

Recent economic figures show that consumers are taking reasonable and prudent measures to recover. Unfortunately, banks and financial firms are doing the same, which is furthering the pain. It's time for government to take the necessary steps to tighten their belts and spend more intelligently.

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When Government deficits exceed 40% of expenditures - historically the tipping point for hyperinflation has been breached.



http://www.frontlinethoughts.com/article.asp?id=mwo100909

Killing the Goose
October 9, 2009
By John Mauldin

"There have been 28 episodes of hyperinflation of national economies in the 20th century, with 20 occurring after 1980. Peter Bernholz (Professor Emeritus of Economics in the Center for Economics and Business (WWZ) at the University of Basel, Switzerland) has spent his career examining the intertwined worlds of politics and economics with special attention given to money. In his most recent book, Monetary Regimes and Inflation: History, Economic and Political Relationships, Bernholz analyzes the 12 largest episodes of hyperinflations - all of which were caused by financing huge public budget deficits through money creation. His conclusion: the tipping point for hyperinflation occurs when the government's deficit exceed 40% of its expenditures.

"According to the current Office of Management and Budget (OMB) projections, US federal expenditures are projected to be $3.653 trillion in FY 2009 and $3.766 trillion in FY 2010, with unified deficits of $1.580 trillion and $1.502 trillion, respectively. These projections imply that the US will run deficits equal to 43.3% and 39.9% of expenditures in 2009 and 2010, respectively. To put it simply, roughly 40% of what our government is spending has to be borrowed. [Emphasis mine]

"One has to ask whether the US reached the critical tipping point. Beyond the quantitative measurements associated with government deficits and money creation, there exists a qualitative aspect to such a scenario that may be far more important.

The qualitative perceptions of fiscal and monetary policies are impossible to control once confidence is lost. In fact, recent price action in metals, the dollar and commodities suggests that the market is already anticipating the future."

Let me point out that the deficits for 2010 assume a rather robust recovery, and so they could turn out to be much worse, especially if unemployment continues to rise and Congress decides (rightly) to extend unemployment benefits.

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When aggregate household consumption grows to over 70% of GDP, it is a level that historically is unsustainable

http://www.journalofaccountancy.com/Issues/2009/Oct/20091781.htm


The U.S. Economic Crisis: Root Causes and the Road to Recovery

Return to prosperity requires reversal of excessive consumption, low savings trends.
BY GREGORY W. BROWN, PH.D. AND CHRISTIAN LUNDBLAD, PH.D.
OCTOBER 2009

At the broadest level, we have witnessed a consumption boom over the last two decades, where U.S. aggregate household consumption grew to represent more than 70% of gross domestic product (GDP), a historically and unsustainable high level

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http://www.vcstar.com/news/2009/sep/09/homeownership-rates-expected-to-drop-with-market/

Homeownership rates expected to drop with housing market
By Allison Bruce
Posted September 9, 2009 at 12:01 a.m.

“Maybe not everybody should own a home,” said Bill Watkins, executive director of the Center for Economic Research and Forecasting at California Lutheran University.

Though homeownership is often talked about as the crowning achievement of the American Dream, high homeownership rates have led to the economic troubles now facing the nation.

Not everyone in the country was meant to own a home. We stretched the system a little too far to give everyone who wanted to own a home the chance to own one BEFORE THEY WERE READY.

Even though it’s easy to say that there should be a balance of homeowners to renters, finding that ratio is difficult. There’s no theory for the right rate, so it comes down to looking at the data, Watkins said.

For the U.S., it seems the right rate is about 64 percent to 65 percent homeownership. Build it up higher and you run into people getting loans by lying, unscrupulous lending and eventual collapse of the financial system, Watkins said.

Socialism is not in the least what it pretends to be. It is not the pioneer of a better and finer world, but the spoiler of what thousands of years of civilization have created. It does not build; it destroys. For destruction is the essence of it. It produces nothing, it only consumes what the social order based on private ownership in the means of production has created - Ludwig von Mises

All of which leaves true capitalism – a product of the voluntary society and the sum total of all the exchanges and cooperative acts of people all over the world – with few actual intellectual defenders. They are growing, but the educational work we need to do is daunting, and we are facing the most powerful forces in the world. There is nothing new in this. In the history of the world, freedom is the exception, not the rule. It must be fought for anew in every generation. Its enemies are everywhere, but the leading enemy is ignorance. For this reason, the main weapon we have at our disposal is education. - Lew Rockwell

Pray for those who serve in the military today...and everyday

A friend of ours from church sent this to me this afternoon and while I usually pass on chain letters, in this case I will not. For those who served, and continue to serve today - God Bless You and God Bless America.

A Prayer chain for our military

THE FINAL INSPECTION

The soldier stood and faced God,
Which must always come to pass.
He hoped his shoes were shining,
Just as brightly as his brass.

'Step forward now, you soldier,
How shall I deal with you ?
Have you always turned the other cheek ?
To My Church have you been true?'

The soldier squared his shoulders and said,
'No, Lord, I guess I ain't.
Because those of us who carry guns,
Can't always be a saint.

I've had to work most Sundays,
And at times my talk was tough.
And sometimes I've been violent,
Because the world is awfully rough.

But, I never took a penny,
That wasn't mine to keep...
Though I worked a lot of overtime,
When the bills got just too steep.

And I never passed a cry for help,
Though at times I shook with fear.
And sometimes, God, forgive me,
I've wept unmanly tears.

I know I don't deserve a place,
Among the people here.
They never wanted me around,
Except to calm their fears.

If you've a place for me here, Lord,
It needn't be so grand.
I never expected or had too much,
But if you don't, I'll understand.

There was a silence all around the throne,
Where the saints had often trod.
As the soldier waited quietly,
For the judgment of his God.

'Step forward now, you soldier,
You've borne your burdens well.
Walk peacefully on Heaven's streets,
You've done your time in Hell.'

Author Unknown~

It's the Military, not the reporter who has given us the freedom of the press. It's the Military, not the poet, who has given us the freedom of speech. It's the Military, not the politicians that ensures our right to life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness. It's the Military who salutes the flag, who serves beneath the flag, and whose coffin is draped by the flag.

If you care to offer the smallest token of recognition and appreciation for the military, please pass this on and pray for our men and women who have served and are currently serving our country and pray for those who have given the ultimate sacrifice for freedom.

OK, money can't buy me love...how about championships?

What do you say to a repeat performance folks? The more things change, the more they stay the same.

The early odds to win the 2010 World Series
from bodog.com :

Yankees.....11-4
Red Sox.....13-2
Phillies....9-1
Angels......10-1
Cardinals...10-1
Dodgers.....11-1
Cubs........15-1
Mets........15-1
Rays........15-1
Braves......18-1
Rockies.....18-1
White Sox...22-1
Tigers......25-1
Marlins.....25-1
Twins.......25-1
Giants......25-1
Rangers.....25-1

Why not, the Yankees win again?

It is funny after hearing all the carping and whining about "fixing" the draft--the entire reason for the draft--the Yankees ability to sign all the top talent, has simply morphed from the Yankees signing all the top amateur talent, and locking them into pinstripes via the reserve clause, to the Yankees letting basically AAAA franchises sign, develop and toy with the top talent for four or five year until they reach free-agency, and then sign all the talent.

Thanks for sharing Yankees. Fix that part of the system and then you can work on the inequities in the amateur draft.




In fairness to the Yankees payroll bashing, I figured I would take a closer at the relationship between payroll and winning.


Club............Payroll........Wins
NY Yankees......$206,811,689...103
NY Mets.........$139,602,235....70
Chicago Cubs....$137,795,612....83
Detroit.........$129,598,000....86
Philadelphia....$128,587,380....93
Boston..........$122,624,689....95
LA Angels.......$116,709,000....97
LA Dodgers......$109,176,603....95
Houston.........$104,785,000....74
Seattle..........$99,346,926....85
Chicago Sox......$98,268,500....79
Atlanta..........$97,692,834....86
St. Louis........$94,498,500....91
San Francisco....$88,777,106....88
Cleveland........$81,325,900....65
Toronto..........$80,993,657....75
Kansas City......$76,446,243....65
Texas............$76,255,380....87
Baltimore........$76,169,792....64
Colorado.........$74,730,533....92
Arizona..........$72,475,000....70
Cincinnati.......$71,458,500....78
Minnesota........$67,899,267....87
Tampa Bay........$64,996,368....84
Milwaukee........$64,560,861....80
Oakland..........$62,396,066....75
Washington.......$61,455,049....59
Pittsburgh.......$52,268,000....62
San Diego........$42,746,653....75
Florida..........$35,458,951....87
Total.........$2,735,910,294
Average..........$91,197,010
Median...........$81,159,779

The average team salary is inflated a bit by the top teams spending but the median shows the value of the average win at about $1 million dollars in salary.

I was surprised that the Sawks were not higher on the list, I thought they were running second but the Mets efforts to keep up with the Jones's places them in the runner-up slot and skews the results a little bit.

The correlation between payroll dollars and # of wins comes in at .5039 which means that approximately 25% (r-squared) of the results are attributable to spending. A .5000 value of r (correlation) is considered to be a moderate to strong statistical relationship.

If the Mets had finished at least .500 for all the spending they did, the correlation rises to .6000 and 36% of the results are based on spending. Flip the Mets and Marlins wins total and the results are even more stark: .6500 correlation and over 40% of the results are based on spending. But, if ifs and buts were candy and nuts......, right?

Based on the results, the teams that got the most wins for their money are:
Marlins, Rays, Twins, Rockies and Rangers

The teams that got the least value for the money spent:
Mets, Astros, White Sox, Indians and Blue Jays

Happy Veterans Day

If you are FREE today, thank a veteran for their service.

Great minds think alike?

I was glad to hear Tony Dungy echo some of my thoughts on the future NFL prospects of Florida QB Tim Tebow. Every time I have seen him play this year, I watch and wonder where the knocks are coming from. So many times I have thrown my hands up and said "all this kid does is win football games". Glad to see somebody, whose opinion I respect, make a similar analysis.

http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/danpatrick/?eref=fromSI#ixzz0VjbKK1Re

Dungy also had interesting comments on Tim Tebow. Dungy loves winners. He thinks Charlie Ward would have been a great NFL quarterback because he won at every level. Dungy said that Tebow is like that. He just wins, and that will translate to the NFL.

Dungy said if he ran St. Louis, he'd draft Tebow high in the first round. "Franchise quarterbacks are hard to fine, and I believe in this guy," Dungy said.

Dan asked Dungy if Sam Bradford, Colt McCoy, Jake Locker and Jimmy Clausen were available, would he take Tebow over all of them. Dungy said yes, he'd take Tebow.

In the past, Dungy compared Notre Dame QB Jimmy Clausen to Drew Brees. High praise indeed. Personally, I like Jake Locker the best overall as far as NFL prospects.

I would go with Locker, Clausen, Tebow, McCoy and Bradford in that order as things stand today. Bradford could really slip due to the injury. Tebow could slip due to the long throwing motion. He has to get that corrected. He could be a fit in Jacksonville though where attendance is an issue. A drawing card helps, but then again so does winning.