Friday, April 30, 2010

Is Palin and Romney just Hillary and Obama 2?


So before I went to work with a client this morning, I came along this article in the Cincinnati Enquirer. Which reminded me of what happened in the 2008 primary between Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama.

" Former and probably future GOP presidential contender Mitt Romney didn't draw even half as many people for his book-signing at Joseph-Beth Booksellers here Thursday as potential rival Sarah Palin did last fall." via Cincinnati Enquirer.

Its really not hard to the see the parallels between the two sets of candidates, so I am surprised that more people haven't brought it up. Romney is the less exciting, less personable policy wonk with loads of experience ie Hillary. Palin is the exciting, fresh face, with less experience and less policy ie Obama. Everyone thinks that Romney is the best suited for the job but Palin brings in the large crowds and energizes people to come out and donate money. Romney has paid his dues, and continues to by giving money to candidates and Palin pretty much just appeared and riding the wave of conservative populism and anti-Washington feeling.

This is probably not unique in terms of political history, there is always an older more established candidate and that young gun who rides on feeling. It is also way to early to know if thats going to be the two main primary candidates, since Palin is more of a political celebrity at this point. I have no doubt Romney is running, I just doubt whether Palin is going to give up her bank-ability to run a very uphill campaign.

"One of the first people in line to get an autographed book was 30-year-old Jodi Reaves of Beattyville, Ky., who wore a T-shirt that said "Proud Conservative" and "Romney-Palin 2012."

"That would be my dream ticket," Reaves said. "As long as Mitt is on the top of the ticket.""

Yea, heard that before...

Florida: The two...three...or four man race?


Well Florida will certainly be a fun election this fall, if by fun it might mean an all out crazy election and clash of egos. Formerly the presumptive Republican nominee for senate, Governor Charlie Crist had to jump that ship and board the S.S. Save My Political Career. He announced yesterday he was going to run as an independent, which set up a three way race with tea party bolstered Mark Rubio and the Democrat Kendrick Meek.

And just when you thought that was going to be it, a billionaire decides to run because what else is there to do in Florida these days. Jeff Greene will now challenge Meeks in the Democratic Primary. Greene might not have the endorsements that Meek has lined up but he will already have a money advantage and seems like he has a lot of personality...with his colorful associates, like Mike Tyson and Heidi Fleiss. I think if anything it will help bolster the Democrat going into the fall since it requires Meeks to now start running adds and getting his name out there. Meeks doesn't do all that well in the race so far, coming in usually in last place in a three way contest.

It's very odd, Crist was considered to be a future star of the GOP. He would have been a good candidate for 2012 considering he actually gets good support from groups traditionally favored to the Democrat; like the Jewish community and African Americans. He is also allegedly gay, so sure he could easily get a higher percentage of the gay vote. But here we are, Crist striking out on his own to make sure his career doesn't crash and burn in a Republican primary.

It will be hard for him to win; no organization, no infrastructure, and will be cash strapped compared to Rubio and whoever the Democrat is. This isn't going to be like Lieberman's 06 run, which was in a much smaller state and he barely lost his primary. It will definitely be fascinating to watch, especially if Meek somehow wins the seat. Crist will be forever cut off from the GOP, cause if he wins the seat the party will definitely make a move to get him to caucus with them.

As Tebow would say, "The juice level is high"

Thursday, April 29, 2010

Beginnings and Endings

So part of why I got sidetracked over the weekend and earlier week, my life got a lot more complicated. I had tried to end a relationship in order to start a new one and that didn't happen. It turned into trying to save the old relationship, which right now seems good, and ending the new one before it got serious, which I kind of regret. I'm giving this one more chance, since I realize a lot of the problems were my own doing and I want to change that. I made the decision and I will fulfill it.

My cousin was killed in an accident on Monday, so thats a blow. Not that it hits me on a personal level, its just a tragedy. He had been a loser and drug addict for a long time and finally was getting himself together again. I guess its good he was able to redeem himself before he passed, even if it was short.

No such thing as wasting time, or shouldn't be.

Josh McDaniels and Tim Tebow: Juicy Love


I need to get some Broncos Tebow pictures soon, but its not bad to remember those Gator Glory Days...considering it might be all we have.

"I was jacked leaving that room. I didn't even want to visit another room. It was not enough time," Tebow said. "We were excited, we were enthusiastic. There was passion. It was just intense, and it was ball, and it was juice. The juice level in that room was high, and it was awesome." Via Denver Post.

Juice Level is high? Maybe its a Florida thing, I've never really heard someone use Juice as a gauge of excitement. I guess when you come from a state that depends mightly on Orange Juice for the economy, the word Juice comes to mean many things. I want to say its stupid but honestly, I want to start using Juice in more conversations like this. I do love the way Tim Tebow talks, his press conferences are enjoyable. He deifnitely has a Miss America way of speaking, not stupid but sorta too nice and too on script.

Pundits and Fans might not be happy with McDaniels with picking Tebow with a 1st round pick, and we won't really know Tebow's potential for some time. However he is paying off in terms of business, he has the fastest selling jersey of this year's draft class and already more than Sanchez's jersey from last year.

I want one.

We have a Quarterback


So after teasing Browns Fans through several rounds of the draft, the team finally selected Colt McCoy with the 85th pick overall. I was beginning to lose hope they were going to draft him since Holmgren did make a statement earlier Friday about how they had other picks to make. Of course, football is a lot like politics...no one ever really means what they say. So with building suspense and then adding a flourish of drama with Mac Brown, Texas Coach, making the announcement; the Browns got their franchise quarterback.

I'm overall pretty happy with the Browns draft, it was definitely better than the ones they have had the past couple of years. I doubt there will be a play off run this year but maybe we can at least get to 500. An interesting note, Jordan Shipley was drafted by the Bengals; so now the fantastic Texas scoring duo are on rival teams. Well you know what they say....Ohio is made for Lovers.

Friday, April 23, 2010

Draft Day! Sequel




Some the first round is done and done, and the big news coming out is that Tim Tebow was taken by the Broncos. The Broncos traded back in the first round for a second time to pick up Tebow with the 25th pick overall. I am most surprised it was the Broncos that took him, considering they have both Orton and took Brady Quinn in an off season trade. Apparently McDaniels, Bronco's coach, had some very strong feelings for Tebow. I can relate to that, I also have strong feelings for Tebow. The Bills were going to make a play for him in the second round but looks like they were taken him for granted. I'm somewhat torn about this, I really wanted Quinn to become the starter for the Broncos but now...ah...damn it.

Other points of interests.

Big 12, especially Oklahoma, had the most round pics with the SEC following after that. It definitely gives you an idea of where the power or high end talent is going and coming from in the NCAA football.

Jimmy Clausen is still in the draft, even though he was rated to be a top 10 talent and thought to have been gone in the first ten picks. He should go in the second round, if not in the beginning of it unless McCoy is grabbed first. I feel bad for the guy, you get all that hype and then it comes crashing down.

Should be a lot of fun trade deals going on today, like to see how the Browns continue to rebuild their team.

Thursday, April 22, 2010

Draft Day!



So between the dry spell of the Super Bowl and the Pre Season, football fans get a brief respite with Draft Day....or Weekend really. I know some people bitch about the length of the Draft, no over 3 days, but I'm happy about it. I have something to watch again, and its allows for endless amounts of pointless sports punditry.

Major Story lines

Well to me anyway, I wanted to break down some story lines I care about coming into this Draft selection.

Browns: Another rebuilding season for the Browns, or well maybe not as badly as before. Mangini is in his second year, and Holmgren isn't new to running a team but few think they are on the path to success. They've made some major changes to the QB position, and there is definite speculation will draft another QB to be their future. The rest of the team is definitely in need for upgrading and it will be interesting to see how Holmgren begins to put his fingerprint on the team's direction.

I know its presumptuous to think that the Browns will be a play off team this year but the AFC North is influx. Steelers are looking at climbing out of hole with Big Ben out for at least 4 games. The Ravens look like the team to beat coming in, I have real doubts the Bengals will be able to repeat their last season sweep of the division. The Browns are on a four game win streak, maybe it will continue on.

AFC EAST: The Patriots look like they are in serious trouble of repeating their champion run of that division. The Jets have continued to gain talent and develop even further, Miami has also been making steady improvements since their one win season. The Bills seem to be the only team thats worse off than they were last year, but the draft could change that. The Patriots haven't made a lot of off season moves so far so the draft will be telling.

The Patriots are a dynasty for a reason: staying power and consistently good performance. They still have Brady and Belichick, so I still believe in them. They will just have to perform better than they did last year, which seems like it will be a guarantee. Brady will be healthier and better synced since being off a year, just hope Rex gets back as quickly as possible.

Tim Tebow: Whether you like him or not, Tim Tebow is the talk of the draft for various reasons. Everyone wants to know when he will go and who he will be drafted by. Most people think he won't go till the 2nd or 3rd round, though one expert said there was an 80% change he would go in the first. I hope the Patriots pick him up, Belichick would do great things with him. Apparently Urban Meyer, Tebow's college coach, is friends and talks with Belichick...so it seems like a definite possibility. Tebow on the Pats, two good things going together...one can dream.





Tuesday, April 20, 2010

Kellan Lutz



I don't usually do the whole celebrity crush thing, its pointless. However, I do have a thing for the actor Kellan Lutz. He mostly well known for playing Emmett Cullen in the Twilight saga films but hopefully he will move on to bigger and better projects. I'm not totally sure why I am fascinated with him, I think its more I want to be like him than anything else. I guess I view him as a kind of role model or standard I want to reach. I dunno, I'm not going to psycho analyze it too much.

So he does a piece in Interview Magazine, its actually rather good and explains more about him and where he comes from.

He worked in retail, I worked in retail. Though he seems to enjoy the selling and being outgoing with people and hated folding, I am the reverse. I rather fold and task than sell, but probably because my confidence levels blow.


Kellan loves competitive, which makes sense if you are going to be actor. I am becoming more competitive as I get more confident, I think the two go hand and hand. When you are more confident, you are more willing to compete because you are more sure you can win.

He says Bloodsport is one of his favorite films, I need to go see that now. I like action films, and would be happy to see more action films with Kellan in them.

Damn, I'm a sad fag, ha. I hope he is not the first person to die in the new Nightmare on Elm Street movie, or that will be a waste of ten dollars.



Implications for the New NFL Season


So the schedule for the 2010 season of the NFL will be released tonight, but some news has already trickled out. Apparently, all the week 17 games will be divisional games. This will hopefully put an end to what happened a lot last year with the final games of the year really not mattering, because most teams had already clinched play off spots were not about to risk injuring their starters. Well most, we all saw what happened to Rex Welker of the Patriots during their game against the Texans that didn't really matter to the Patriots...and now he won't be back till sometime next season.

I think its a great change, I look forward to what the match ups for the end of the year will be. It won't fully solve the problem of teams resting and not really playing, but those divisional rivalries always lead to the most intense games of the season. I know in the AFC North: Browns, Bengals, Steelers and Ravens, none of those teams get along at all and none of the fans do either. So it will be especially nasty if the Browns were to ruin the chances of any of those teams, and vice versa. Though the idea of the Browns being on their way to a playoff spot is rich, so they will most likely play spoiler.

Monday, April 19, 2010

Oh Palin


My opinion of Sarah Palin has really taken a dive since the 08 Election, back when I actually liked her and defended her to people. When I first learned about her, she did have a resume of fighting corruption and working for the common good as Governor in Alaska.

That was then and slowly she has done a lot to turn me off, the biggest thing is quitting her Governorship to pursue a career as a political celebrity. She is will within her rights to pursue something that she feels is better but I have a right think it was rather self serving.

And then this comes out, she hasn't given any money to the races she deems the "Top 20". She is great for revving up the base and throwing out red meat but she doesn't seem to do alot to advance the party over her own interests.

Maybe she will get back to what made her great, but seems unlikely.

Sunday, April 18, 2010

The New Big Ten






Rumblings of a Big Ten Expansion have been going on for awhile but especially since the end of last season. The push has begin to move again with a meeting of various school heads will happen in May, though doubtful we will learn anything concrete. I think it will be a fascinating story to follow since the Big Ten hasn't expanded since 1990 when it added Penn State, and actually makes it 11 schools. I really wonder who the next school will be, since some interesting names have come up like Notre Dame.

Notre Dame has been chased after by the Big Ten for awhile, considering its in the perfect location regionally and its a historic program that has a lot of fans. Notre Dame is unlikely because it has no need to be in a Conference, it gets to set its own schedule and basically brings more than enough money on its own. I would like Notre Dame to join since it seems like the best possible choice overall but its incredibly unlikely. Another fun scenario could be the Big Ten poaching a team from another conference like Cincinnati from the Big East, which might lead to an intrastate rivalry for Ohio between OSU and UC. The two hardly ever plan one another considering they are like 2-3 hours a part.

A argument for expansion had to do with both money and competition. The other major conferences like SEC and Big 12 have a set championship game between their divisions, which the Big Ten doesn't. Having 12 teams would allow for an extra game, one that would be a big drawn in viewers and money. Some also were pushing that it would improve the level of competition in the Big Ten which had been on a decline in terms of Bowl Game Wins.

Though I think this year that later argument fell away, the Big Ten was 4-3 in bowl games in this year. Its not total domination by any means but OSU won the Rose Bowl and Penn State took down LSU. They did sweep their BSC Bowl games, so thats a definite improvement over last year where the Big Ten lost in both of the BSC games.

Hopefully something will come out soon...

Friday, April 16, 2010

Validation?

During the 08 primary campaign, there was an argument about Obama and his new coalition of voters. A lot of Obama supporters pushed this idea that having Obama on the ticket, as opposed to Hillary, would expand the voter pool and allow us to the elections on the backs of new and first timer voters. The new voters, mostly young and minorities, would become reliable Democratic voters and begin a new era in the Democratic Voting Coalition. This was mostly used to cover Obama's weakness with historically Democratic voters; white, blue collar, steel belt states, women, high school educated.

I thought it was a stupid one considering McGovern tried to do the same thing and lost in a landslide to Reagen but things seemed to work out. The Hillary voter ended up coming back home to Obama in the general election, so I might have been wrong. As we approach the 20120 midterm though it seems that I might have been right. Obama is losing the Clinton Democrats and its part of the reason for the overall decline in his approval and the damage to the Democrat Party.

While some are predicting a heavy loss for the Democrats in the midterm, I'm not sure I would go just as high to 80-90 seats. Sean Trende does use some cool stats and interesting take on what is shaping up in the fall.

If Obama really has damaged the Democrat brand and turned off the general public to the party, the assumption of a Democratic Era might have been really stupid.

Obama makes a move

Obama signed a rule change to expand health care rights of gay and lesbians today, at least its something.

There has been a growing disappointment with the administration in terms of gay rights, basically the slow and seemingly unwillingness of the President to really push to end DADT. Obama does extend an olive branch every now then to keep the gays appeased with his presidency, but I shouldn't complain.

A step is a step.

Thursday, April 15, 2010

Browns to take first pick?





It could be a possibility according to ESPN, the Browns would then proceed to take Bradford as their first pick.

I like the Browns and root for them but seems like a bad idea. They have a lot of draft picks and should spend them on rebuilding the team overall and not get drawn into another season of quaterback drama.

Bradford is talented but so far the Brown's offense has been a blackhole that sucks up talent and spits out crap. I don't see advantage of spending all your capital on a QB and not address other issues like offensive line and receivers. Delhomme, though is eh at best, at least has experience in the NFL and is more likely to better handle pressure from NFL defense.

Bradford is not the end all be all, the Browns can get a good rookie QB without giving up picks.

Oh Huckster

I have a major fear of the 2012 election: I will be stuck voting for Obama or a Religious Nut. I am pretty hopefully Romney will win the primary but if not...please let it be someone besides Huckabee.

So the former Gov. of Arkansas made some rather obnoxious comments about gay marriage and gay relationships in general. I think maybe on of the worse comments is the line, "Children are not puppies."

Yea, we get that. Considering most gay couples either have to put thousands of dollars to adopt, if they can legally, or go through artificial means like insemination or surrogacy; most of us don't think of children as puppies. We are not that ones who keep abortion clinics running and out of wedlock births going, Octo-Mom was not an out of control lesbian with a turkey baster.

"They have to prove that two men can have an equally definable relationship called marriage, and somehow that that can mean the same thing."

It would be nice if everyone had to prove their relationship before they got married, maybe we would have less divorce rates. I don't think anyone should have to prove their relationship to the Government, and especially not to Former Gov. Huckabee. He might have a point about whether its right to change the definition of Marriage to accommodate all relationships, but his argument is flimsy. I guess he would want everyone to go to a court and have to deliver proof they have a relationship worth getting married by the state...cause thats not a massive expansion of government.

He should really come out as what he is, a Theocratic.


Wednesday, April 14, 2010

No Big Ben Jerky?

Some late breaking news, due to Big Ben's "alleged" sexual assault of a girl in Miami, we will be denied the smoky, meaty flavor of Big Ben Jerky.

This is probably a good thing because with that mullet he was rocking and now beef jerky, he was dangerously getting red neck. I mean he is from Lima, Ohio...so maybe he is just returning to his roots.

Can the NFL Commissioner really punish him even more? Doubt it.

Another reason to dislike J.J.



I am not a fan of "America's Team", though Jason Whitten is a good guy. I find Jerry Jones to be obnoxious and this video just proves it. Whether you like Tim Tebow or not, its not really fair to the guy to get badmouthed and degraded by a drunk J.J. He just throws money at the problem, suppose spending billions of dollars to get one play off win was worth it...Not sure why you would go and bad mouth Bill Parcells, probably because he didn't bring JJ his coveted Superbowl win.

Money doesn't buy class it seems like...