The SoapBoxers

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As you know, I am a huge baseball fan.  For many years, I have had my eye on the Ken Burns miniseries Baseball.  The new price never dropped below $100, and used copies were hard to find for a good price (if you’re a big enough baseball fan to buy it, why would you sell it later?)  A few days before Christmas, I was pleased to find the miniseries – including the new 10th Inning – for just $49.99 on Amazon.  It was temporarily out of stock, but I immediately jumped at the chance to pick it up for that price.  It’s still temporarily out of stock, but the price has begun to climb – it’s now $50.99.  To grab your copy before the price jumps more, head over to Amazon today (note: we do receive a small commission on Amazon sales).

While you’re at Amazon, pick up a copy of Ron Shandler’s 2011 Baseball Forecaster.  Shandler’s approach on predicting performance is based on component analysis – rewarding players for the skills they exhibit rather than the resulting numbers (which can be skewed by external factors or just plain dumb luck).

Ohio State Suspensions

Five Ohio State football players are being suspended for the first five games of the 2011 season after running afoul of NCAA rules regarding improper benefits.  Players are being accused of trading autographs for tattoos and selling rings, jerseys, and awards.  The suspension may cause those players – include quarterback Terrelle Pryor and running back Boom Herron – to jump to the NFL instead of returning for half a season next year.

Why aren’t the players being suspended for the Sugar Bowl on January 4?  The NCAA says it is because the players “did not receive adequate rules education during the time period the violations occurred.”  I call BS on that.  If that’s a valid excuse, then why would the NCAA lower the boom on them with a 5 game suspension?

The real reason, of course, is money.  Take those players out of a BCS bowl game, and ratings would plummet.  Sponsors would not be pleased.

NFC West

My wife’s St. Louis Rams and their adversaries, the Seattle Seahawks, both won their games on Sunday.  The two teams now head into next week’s game with identical records of 7-8.  The winner of the division will end the regular season at .500.

For the past few weeks, many of the talking heads have expressed concern about the possibility of the NFC West champion qualifying for the playoffs with a 7-9 record – while a 10 win team from another division could be left out of the playoffs.  I was hoping this would happen, just for the novelty.

Andrew Gallo

Andrew Gallo, the drunk driver who cause the accident that killed Angels pitcher Nick Adenhart and two others in 2009 (and injuring a fourth person), was sentence to 51 years in prison.  Was the sentence influence by the fact that one of the victims was an athlete?  No.  It was influence by the fact that Gallo has previously been convicted of DUI and at the time signed an acknowledgement that if he cause a fatal accident while drunk, he could be charged with murder.  This has become common practice in Orange County, California – the Gallo case was not an aberration.

Why Bloggers Hate Christmas

As readers of The Soap Boxers (and search engine visitors) headed out to visit family and friends for the Christmas holiday, traffic to the site fell off a cliff for a few days … and traffic will likely be a bit slow until New Year’s Day.  Sadly, advertising revenue takes a similar hit.

But do bloggers actually HATE Christmas for this reason?  Nah.  I sincerely wish my readers a happy Christmas season.

Things have been busy lately in the world of Kosmo.  Barring a complete collapse in the second half of the month (which is possible, with Christmas pulling people away from their computers) we should set a new record in page views for the fourth consecutive month.  We’re not seeing a million visitors per month, but we’re seeing solid growth, particularly from search engine traffic.  The Soap Boxers has always been the flagship offering of Hyrax Publications, and this will continue in the future.

I have also launched a consulting business, Sparks By Kosmo.  The thought was that up-and-coming bloggers would take advantage of the service to get some new ideas for their site.  However, at this point, the main interest seems to be coming from established bloggers looking to iron out the last few wrinkles.  We’ll be unveiling new packages geared toward these different sets of customers in January.  And perhaps we’ll also unveil a new member of the Sparks team at that point?  While The Soap Boxers is the flagship of Hyrax Publications, Sparks has the potential to actually pay some bills.

We’ll also be launching an eBook project in January.  This isn’t me just announcing a new eBook or audio book for sale in the Hyrax Publications store.  This will actually be a collaborative effort involving up to 100 individual authors.  I’ll be looking to include some of you in this project.  Keep your eyes open for more details in January, with publication slated for late spring or early summer.  Some of you are already aware of this effort and have signed on to become contributors.

Hyrax Publications will also be getting into the business of selling printed books in 2011.  The first two books are written by a self-published author on an interesting niche topic.  Putting her books for sale in the Hyrax Publications store will allow her to reach a potentially worldwide audience without having to build out any infrastructure.  If this experiment proves successful, we may opt to work with other authors later in the year.

My novel, unfortunately, has been pushed to the back burner a bit.  My New Year’s resolution for 2011 will be to get some traction on it.  Given the free time, I think I could hammer out the first hundred pages fairly quickly.

Several days ago, I received notification that I was NOT the winner of the Iowa Short Fiction Award contest.  This wasn’t a big shock, since the contest attracted 400+ writers.

And in the category of “things you didn’t notice and really don’t care about,” my business name has changed from Hyrax Publications to Hyrax Publications, LLC.

Free agent pitcher Cliff Lee signed a 5 year deal with the Philadelphia Phillies that will pay him $120 million.  Evan was so excited about the news that he temporarily forgot what Evernote was.  There are plenty of theories about why Lee preferred to sign with the Phillies instead of the Yankees.  Some say that Lee and his wife really enjoyed the city of Philadelphia, while others suggested that he preferred to stay in the National League.  The real reason is pretty obvious.  The Indians, Rangers, and Phillies all use the color red in their logo.  The Yankees do not.  Clifford the Big Red Dog, anyone?

The Boston Red Sox continue to put the screws to the Bronx Bombers.  After adding first baseman Adrian Gonzalez via trade, they nabbed outfield Carl Crawford as a free agent.  It’s a double word score for the Sox, as they not only add a big gun to use in their war against the Yankees, but also weaken their other division rivals, the Tampa Bay Devil Rays.

Hall of Fame pitcher and Iowa native Bob Feller passed away at the age of 92.  Feller was the dominant ace of his day, hurling a fastball that topped out above 100 mph.  It will never be known exactly how fast Rapid Robert could toss the old cowhide, due to the fact that speed gauging technology was in its infancy during his prime.  Feller missed all of the 1942, 1943, and 1944 seasons and started just 9 games in 1945 due to his service in World War II.  Feller won 76 games in the threee years prior to 1942 – it’s not a stretch to assume that the 3.75 seasons he lost to the war may have netted him 95 wins, pushing his career total to 350+.  However, this is a common situation for players of the era (Ted Williams lost time to World War II and the Korean War) and if if and buts were candy and nuts, we’d all have a merry Christmas.  Feller made his debut with the Indians at the tender age of 17 (he went 5-3 with a 3.34 ERA that year).

Jerks all around the world are bristling at being compared to Jets strength and conditioning coach Sal Alosi.  During a punt in the game against the Miami, a player for the Dolphins ran out of bounds on his way downfield.  This is fairly common  – players do it to avoid being blocked in the field of play.  What is not common is to have someone stick their knee out to trip the player, as Alosi did.  Further investigation has also determined that Alosi told 5 inactive players to form a wall near the sideline to prevent the Miami players from going out of bounds.  Alosi has been suspended indefinitely, and I would not be surprised if he gets fired.

The leaked documents were strategically devastating for the military, as they contained detailed battle plans for the ongoing wars.  The enemy would easily be able to use this information to determine the general strategy the army intended to use in battle.

The leaked documents were also personally embarrassing for many individual members of the military, as they contained complete medical records for tens of thousands of soldiers.

The source of the leak might have been a secret forever – if not for one single document that was included.  It was an email between the owner of the site that published the documents and the apparent source of the documents – an email that outlined an agreement to leak the documents.  The email address that the source used was a throwaway Gmail account – but the source had felt compelled to sign the email with a nickname – the Camouflage Kangaroo.

General Paul Arnaud had assigned a team to delve into the leaked documents in hopes that someone might find a clue that would help identify the source of the documents.  He was stunned when his researcher show him a copy of the email.  General Paul Arnaud knew exactly who the Camouflage Kangaroo was.  For as long as he could remember, Colonel Ann Barron had named her fantasy football team The Camouflage Kangaroos.  He was shocked that his good friend could be a traitor to her country – and equally surprised that such a brilliant woman would be dumb enough to reuse a nickname when engaging in such activities.

Paul Arnaud was not convinced that Ann Barron was the source.  After all, a good number of people had participated in their football leagues during Ann’s time playing.  Perhaps one of them had simply used the name of the Camouflage Kangaroo in order to frame Colonel Barron.  Yes, this seemed like a much more plausible explanation.  Ann Barron was loyal to her country – she would never engage in espionage.

The general’s hopes were dashed when the investigation was complete.  A review of Ann Barron’s bank records showed a number of deposits from a foreign source – spread across a dozen accounts in seven states.  The way the deposits had been spread out suggested an attempt to circumvent mandatory reporting requirements for the banks.  The amount totaled $180,000.  The general was disappointed that Colonel Barron would betray her country for a relatively small amount of money.

Barron’s access logs were equally disturbing.  Over the past year, she had used her top secret clearance to access a massive number of files.  There was little doubt that Colonel Ann Barron had accessed confidential documents and turned them over to a third party.

Colonel Barron steadfastly denied the charges during her court martial.  However, the overwhelming evidence resulted in her being found guilty.  She was sentenced to death.

Colonel Ann Barron knew that she had been framed, but couldn’t prove it.  Thousands of miles away, someone else knew that she was innocent, and he could prove it.

Unfortunately for her, her son wasn’t inclined to aid in her defense.  Billy Barron had set the trap a year ago, when he installed a key logging program on his mother’s computer.  A few days later, he had passwords for a variety of military computer systems.  He made sure that some of the money was sent to inactive bank accounts that his mother had forgotten about.  The bulk of the money, however, was sent to an account in Switzerland.  After the execution, Billy planned to visit his money – and spend a few months skiing in the Alps.

His mother had always insisted that he would enlist in the Army when he turned 18.  Billy thought that spending his life as a rich playboy seemed like much more fun.

Much attention has been given to Dave Ramsey’s method for reducing debt.  The gist is that you pay off the smallest debts first, then use this money toward the smallest remaining debt, until a snowball effect takes place, zooming you out of debt in no time.  This is a simplified version, but I’ll focus on this core idea today.

From a pure dollars and cents perspective, this doesn’t make logical sense.  You should instead pay off the debts that are at the highest interest rate – this will save you money in the long run.  If you have the discipline to pay off debts in this manner, it’s a no-brainer to do it this way.

So, then, why does Dave Ramsey have some many followers?  Because many people get frustrated with their inability to make a sizeable dent in their debt.  If they have $3500 car loan at 0.9% and a $15,000 credit card loan at 18.9%, they pay off the car loan because it’s a quick win.  For many people, emotion trumps logic.

Wouldn’t it be great if people were somehow able to inject emotion into the logical approach?  I’m going to introduce a method that I call The Ramsey Backflip.  The method attempts to take the strengths of the Ramsey approach (emotional victories) and inject it into the more financial advantageous method of paying off the high rate debts first.

The first step in the process is to name your debts.  Give the highest interest rate an unpleasant name (Merkleton McWarty, for example) and the lowest interest rate a more pleasant name (Princess).  Then, assign actual physical characteristics to the debts.  You might choose to personify the lowest interest rate debt after Scarlett Johansson (if you are a guy) or Tom Cruise (if you are female).  Likewise, choose negative characteristics for the highest interest rate debts – for example, you might pick Tom Cruise, if you are a guy.  (I’m kidding, Tom Cruise.  I’m sure you’re a great guy.  The rest of us are just jealous).

Now you should have a band of imaginary debt-friends.  OK, they aren’t real friends, because they are mooches.  It’s like the movie You, Me, and Dupree.  You invited the house guests, but you really need to show them the door – and fast.

If you have several house guests and need to kick one out, whom do you kick out?  The boring, ugly guy with bad breath.  Merkleton McWarty.  Find a nice big photo of Merkleton McWarty (or the person you use for the mental image of Merkleton) and waste some ink and paper by printing it out.  Every time you make a payment against Merkleton (that credit card debt of $15,000 at 18.9%), put a sticker on top of Merkleton’s ugly mug.  By the time you finish with Merkleton, he’s nothing but a page of stickers.

When the first debt is gone, repeat the process with the ugliest remaining houseguest.  As you work through the debts, the photos get progressively more attractive.  At the end, you’re left with Scarlett Johansson – the $3500 car loan at 0.9%.  When you get to that point in your debt repayment process, it might not even make sense to pay off the loan early – you may instead choose to invest in something that can beat the 0.9% rate.

Is this a bit immature?  Certainly.  However, I urge you to try to find your own path – a way that you can convince yourself, emotionally, that it is in your best interests to pay off those higher interest debts first.  Make it a game if you must.  Your wallet will thank you.

I’ve been collecting favorite quotes for a number of years.  Here are some that I enjoy – it’s definitely a motley collection.

“Goof Grief.” – Master Charles Brown

“He who fights with monsters might take care lest he thereby become a monster. And if you gaze for long into an abyss, the abyss gazes also into you.” – Niezsche

“Last night I dreamed I was a butterfly.  Now I do not know if I am a man who dreams he is a butterfly or a butterfly who dreams he is a man” (paraphrased) – Zhuangzi

“That is what Tiggers do best!” – Tigger

“Luck is the residue of design.” Often attributed to Branch Rickey, but Rickey borrowed it from John Milton

“With proper design, there is no residue.” – George (friend of Kosmo)

“People ask me what I do in winter when there’s no baseball. I’ll tell you what I do. I stare out the window and wait for spring.” – Baseball Hall of Famer Rogers Hornsby

“When you come to a fork in the road, take it.” Attributed to Yogi Berra

“Give to Caesar what is Caesar’s” – Jesus Christ

“Ah.  Hay-SOOS.  I like him very much, but he no help with curve ball.” – Pedro Cerrano

“Oh.  Dog and a beer.” – Terrence Mann, after first mistaking Ray Kinsella’s question of “What do you want” as something existential rather than food-oriented.

“These are not the droids you’re looking for.” Obi-Wan Kenobi

“Once you eliminate the impossible, whatever remains, no matter how improbable, must be the truth.” – Sherlock Holmes

“This is a simple game. You throw the ball. You hit the ball. You catch the ball.” – Skip (Major League)

“My name is Inigo Montoya.  You killed my father.  Prepare to DIE.” – Inigo Montoya

and finally:

“Here’s to the crazy ones. The misfits. The rebels. The troublemakers. The round pegs in the square holes. The ones who see things differently. They’re not fond of rules. And they have no respect for the status quo. You can quote them, disagree with them, glorify or vilify them. About the only thing you can’t do is ignore them. Because they change things. They push the human race forward. And while some may see them as the crazy ones, we see genius. Because the people who are crazy enough to think they can change the world, are the ones who do.” – Yeah, I’m an Apple fan, but even if I wasn’t, I would love this quote.

You’ve seen the ads.  Sparks by Kosmo – Web consulting with a twist.  What the heck does that mean?

Although our little site at The Soap Boxers is still a relatively undiscovered diamond in the rough that is the blogosphere, I can, with confidence, claim to have one unique specialty.

My mind is not bound by the constraints that tend to hamper most people.  Most people operate with a filter that weeds out the bizarre ideas before they actually have a chance to live at all.  Not the case with me.  I say to those ideas “be fruitful and multiply!”  Honestly, if I didn’t have a day job in a conservative industry, I’d probably commonly be referred to as “a bit eccentric”.

Introduce people to a variety of unusual ideas, and you will expand their horizons to encompass a broad range of possibilities.  While the original ideas themselves may not be a final answer, they may open up a line of thought that leads to other ideas which are eventually implemented.

To that end, I am announcing a service that will allow you to bottle a little bit of Kosmo.  Few can doubt that my creativity factory churns out some unique stuff (don’t believe me?  Check out short stories like Second Chances and The Critic) – why not work with web site owners to come up with new ideas to help improve their sites?

This will certainly not be your grandfather’s brand of web consulting.  There will be no chatter about click-through rates, search engine optimizations, and load times.  The focus will simply be on making the site more interesting and useful for your visitors, pushing the envelope beyond what you do today.

I’m going to start out with two different levels of service.

The first, affectionately nicknamed “I hate your website because …” will be a quick look-see at your site, with an email from me pointing out the aspects of the site that I disliked the most.  Most often, these are going to be tactical things, although I’ll throw in an outside-the-box idea when possible.

The second level will be a more in-depth look at the site.  For a small retainer, I’ll give you two quick tips on how to improve your site, plus a quote on how much I would change for a full review.  At the end of a full review, you will receive a formal report (between 500 and 3000+ words) detailing suggested changes.  Bear in mind that I have no prior knowledge of your site or your audience, so I don’t know what “won’t work”.  Odds are good that several of my ideas will be things that “won’t work”.  Given a chance, I bet that some of those ideas actually WILL work.  And if they don’t work, you just blame it on the crazy consultant!

I can’t guarantee that you’ll be a BETTER person after working with me –  but you’ll certainly be a DIFFERENT person.

I lined up a lucky sucker customer to give Sparks a try.  You may know her as Silicon Valley Blogger from The Digerati Life.  Honestly, she’s probably not in my target audience.  Not only has she spent much time refining her site over the years and has a strong sense of the direction she is heading, but I am also a frequent reader.  This means that it will be difficult to truly look upon her site as a blank slate.  The report I gave to SVB ended up being on the more basic side of the spectrum.  What could Kosmo come up with the improve one of the most popular personal finance sites on the web?

Here are a couple of sample suggestions

Navigation bar links to outdated information – The most current deal in the Special Deals section is from July, and the most recent online coupon is from May. You need to decide if these are important enough to take up prime real estate on the navigation bar, or if they are so unimportant that they can go a half-year between updates. These are mutually exclusive categories.

Recent articles – If a new visitor stumbles across your site, they aren’t able to determine what you have been writing about recently. Consider using a “recent articles” plug-in in a sidebar to draw their attention to your recent activity.

Another client was Mommy’s Recess.  This is a newer site that has only been up for a few months – so I was able to put together a more detailed report.  This is the type of client who can probably gain the most from Sparks.

Here are some nuggets from the detailed report:

Who’s your daddy? – Obviously, your site is centered on the perspective of a mother. Every once in a while (perhaps once a month), why not have a guest article that comes from a different perspective? Have a father write something about the joys of fatherhood – or a grandmother, teacher, or even the owner of a store that specializes in children’s clothing or merchandise?

Go ask mother – Get your readers more involved with an advice column. You may need to prime the pump at first – getting some questions from friends and family in the “real world”, but before long, you’ll be getting questions from your site visitors.

Recalls – Consider covering the important topic of manufacturer recalls once a month. Although the Consumer Product Safety Commission provides this information on their web site, not every checks the site. Also, you may choose to go explain the importance of some of the recalls.

Sarah and Emma had this to say about Sparks:

We received a great review from Kosmo. As stay at home moms working on a blog, we know diapers and kids but not internet.

Not only did he give us tips on colors and links, but he gave us content ideas that will give the blog a fresh look and ideas!

Hop over the Sparks today for some introductory pricing.

The Chicago White Sox signed free agent Adam Dunn to a 4 year deal worth $14 million per year.  The deal will allow Dunn to play his best defensive position – DH.  All kidding aside, I like this deal for the White Sox.   Dunn brings tremendous power, belting at least 38 homers in seven consecutive seasons.  He also walks quite a lot, transforming his lackluster .250 career batting average into a stellar .381 career on base percentage.

The knock on Dunn, of course, is his ability to strike out. He has struck out at least 164 times in every season in which he has accumulated at least 400 at bats.  That’s a huge number of strikeouts.  Unfortunately, it gets more attention than it deserves.  It would be great if he could cut down the strikeouts and hit .275 instead of .250, but the fact of the matter is that strikeouts aren’t much worse than other outs – a .250 hitter who strikes out a ton isn’t much worse than a .250 hitter who strikes out half as much.

Interesting tidbit that casual fans might not know about Dunn – he was once a backup quarterback at the University of Texas.

On the other side of the sock drawer, the crimson hose traded for Padres first baseman Adrian Gonazalez.  Gonzalez is a player who would be one of the most underrated players in the game, if not for media attention that has focused on how underrated he is (oh sweet irony!).  In spite of playing in a park that depresses offensive numbers for hitters, Gonazlez has emerged as one of the leading power hitters in the game – hitting 30+ home runs in each of the past four seasons.  A switch to hitter-friendly Fenway Park should certainly boost his offensive stats.  Gonzalez is also a two time Gold Glove award winner for his defensive play.

I do urge people to take one thing into account with Gonzalez.  While his career road numbers are much better than his career home numbers (.943 OPS vs .800 OPS), this isn’t entirely the effect of Petco Park.  Due to baseball’s unbalanced schedule, Gonzalez has played a disproportionate number of road games in Colorado and Arizona – home to two of the best hitter’s parks in baseball.  This will have a tendency to prop up his road stats a bit.  It’s dangerous to use raw road stats when making comparisons.  My article on park effects is also applicable to this discussion.

Derek Jeter and the Yankees finally called off their game of chicken, with Jeter signing a deal that will pay him $51 million over the next three years, with a complex points-based player option for the 2014 season.  This is much more money than Jeter is really worth at this stage in his career (most players tend to see their skills erode as his age – a sad fact of growing older) but is much less than the $23 million per year that Jeter was reportedly seeking.

On the gridiron, the Denver Broncos bucked Josh McDaniels from his saddle.  McDaniels took over the reigns at the beginning on the 2009 season.  He quickly jettisoned a digruntled Jay Cutler (hey, would YOU be gruntled if there were rumors that the new coach was trying to acquire Matt Cassel to replace you?) and replacing him with Kyle Orton.  J-Mac roared out to a 6-0 start, and many glasses of Coors were held aloft to toast the genius.

The bottom fell out quickly.  The 2009 Broncos lost four straight games after their undefeated start and finished 8-8.  In 2010, the Broncos stand at 3-9 and also found themselves embroiled a controversy involved the unauthorized videotaping of an opponent’s practice session.

John Scherer could hear the impact of the collision from his seat on the bench.  He knew in an instant that Carson Malone would not return to the game.

“Scherer!” snapped head coach Art Saunders.  But there was no need to bark at him – John had already grabbed a football and was warming up.

When Carson Malone was carried off the field, the crowd grew silent.  The undefeated Tigers were assured of a bowl berth – but a win against the Dragons had the potential of punching their ticket to the national championship game.

The offense that was centered around the golden arm of Carson Malone had sputtered for much of the day, and the Tigers were clinging to a tenuous 17-16 lead against the Dragons.  The Dragons defense was stout against the run, and the only way to beat them was through the arm.  Could the spaghetti-armed Scherer get the ball downfield consistently?  In four years on the team, he had only gotten into a handful of games during garbage time and had done little to impress the coaching staff.

The afternoon sun had begun to descend into the horizon beyond Buck Miller stadium when Scherer broke from the huddle and settled in behind the center.  A moment later, the ball had been snapped and Scherer dropped back into the pocket.  He quickly spotted an open receiver and delivered a quick, tight spiral in the direction of Quentin Snow.  An instant later, he saw a flash of green as Dragons cornerback Carlton Jacobs jumped the route and snatched the ball before it reached Snow.  The All-American defensive back was past Scherer in a second and took the ball to the house without being touched.  The PAT made the score 23-17 in favor of the Dragons.

Quentin Snow returned the ensuing kickoff to the 38 yard line.  John Scherer settled the butterflies in his stomach and summoned the fortitude necessary to lead his team to victory.  A quick toss to Snow gave the Tigers a first down just shy of midfield.  Scherer hit his tight end over the middle for six yards.  A screen pass netted another ten yards.  Quentin Snow slipped past his defender and took the ball to the twenty one yard line.  After a sack, Scherer settled back in and hit tight end Rudolph Mauser at the ten.  A quick strike to Snow in the end zone capped off the scoring drive.

Adrenaline surged though Scherer’s veins as he grabbed some Gatorade and talked to the coaches on the phone.  Man, he had rocked on that drive – six completions in six attempts.  He hadn’t executed a drive that well since middle school.

The quick strike had demoralized the Dragons.  The Tigers defense forced a  three-and-out.  This time, Quentin Snow settled under the punt and called for a fair catch at the thirty yard line.  With a 24-23 lead, the Tigers simply needed to sustain a drive and let the clock run out.

Scherer found Mauser open downfield and the big tight end rumbled toward midfield.  It was a critical first down for the Tigers.  One more first down, and the game would be over.  Coach Saunders was conservative on the next two plays, handing the ball off to tailback Lawrence McGee.  Mac gain four yards on first down, but was thrown back for a two yard loss on second down, as half the Dragons defense converged on him in the backfield.

The ball was at the Tigers 48 yard line.  It was third down, with a long eight yards needed to make the first down and put the game out of reach.  A failure to execute on this play would force the Tigers to punt the ball back to the Dragons.

Scherer took the snap from center and quickly progressed through his reads.  Quentin Snow was double teamed.  Mauser was being covered effectively by a linebacker.  Tailback Lawrence McGee was open in the flat, and Scherer quickly delivered the ball.  McGee stumbled as he approached the ball.  The throw was a bit high, and McGee was only able to get his fingertips on the ball – tipping it into the air.

John Scherer groaned as he saw a flash of green near the ball.  Once again, Carlton Jacobs was in the middle of the play.  Jacobs gathered the ball at the Dragons forty yard line and set sail for pay dirt, sixty yards away.

Quentin Snow was one of the few players in the league who had better speed than Jacobs.  By the time they reach the twenty yard line, they were abreast of each other.  Jacobs made a quick fake, and Snow sailed past him and was out of position.  A moment later, Jacobs raised the ball in celebration as he cruised toward the end zone.

At the last moment, a hand slapped the ball away.  Jacobs quickly tracked the ball down and attempted to corral it … but it eluded his grasp and exited the back of the end zone.

As the official made the signal for a touchback – awarding the ball back to the Tigers at the twenty yard line – John Scherer sat in the end zone catching his breath.

Iowa State wrapped up their football season with a disappointing loss against Missouri on November 20 and ended the season at 5-7.  At the beginning of the season, I figured that five wins would be a best case scenario, given the difficulty of the schedule (non-conference games against Iowa and Utah and road tilts against Texas and Oklahoma).  As it stands, we ended up with five wins, and I’m disappointed that we didn’t catch a couple of breaks that could have gotten us a couple more wins.  Mark my word, we’re going back to a bowl game next year.

Former Iowa State coach Dan McCarney, currently the defensive line coach for Urban Meyer at Florida, will be the new head coach at North Texas.  McCarney had a 56-85 record with the Cyclones, but the overall wins and losses don’t do justice to the work Mac did to build the program.  Iowa State was fresh off an 0-10-1 season when McCarney took the reigns from Jim Walden.  In Walden’s seven seasons and head coach, the Cyclones mustered a winning record just once (6-5 in 1989).  After just ten total wins in the first four seasons under McCarney, Iowa State burst onto the national scene in 2000 with a nine win season – and the first bowl appearance since 1978.  In a six year span between 2000 and 2005, the Cyclones played in five bowl games.  After a 4-8 season in 2006, McCarney was fired.  That night, I sent a short email thanking him for everything he had done for the program.  McCarney, in the process of cleaning out his office and figuring out what his next career move was, took a moment to reply.

My wife’s favorite NFL team, the St. Louis Rams, find themselves in contention for a playoff berth.  At 5-6, they are tied for first place in a mediocre NFC West.  Rookie quarterback Sam Bradford is leading the way with a successful debut season – 17 touchdown passes against 9 interceptions.  No 7-9 team has ever made the playoffs – but it  could happen this year.  In any case, the season has been a big step forward for a team that had just one win last year.  At the beginning of the season, I wondered if the Rams wouldn’t have been better off to trade star running back Steven Jackson in an effort to plug multiple holes … but it seems that the Rams have found a way to get to the next level without sacrificing their best player.

The Yankees and shortstop Derek Jeter are reportedly far apart in negotiations.  It’s an odd case.  On paper, the Yankees would seem to hold all the cards.  Jeter is coming off a very poor season, and at at 36, is at an age when a decline in abilities is expected.  Barry Bonds aside, players generally do not improve their statistics in the waning years of their careers.  Additionally, Jeter is a type A free agent, meaning that teams would have to sacrifice a first round pick to sign him.  At this point, I think many teams see the folly in signing an aging type A player.  The Braves signed Tom Glavine as a type A player after the 2007 season.  It ended up being a bad signing, with Glavine giving limited value to the Braves, while at the same time, the Braves handed the division rival Mets Ike Davis on a silver platter (the Mets drafted Davis with a pick they were awarded as compensation for the Glavine signing).  On the flip side, Jeter is a Yankee icon, and there is fear on backlash from the fans if they front office fails to ensure that he finishes his career in pinstripes.  What am I hoping for?  I hope the Yankees massively overpay Jeter.  More money for Jeter means less money for players who could actually contribute to the team in the future.

On Monday night, my Colorado Rockies extended the contract of Troy Tulowitzki, adding six years and $119 million to his existing deal.  He had been signed through 2013, with a club option for the 2014 season.  Tulo is now signed through the 2020 season.  While I’m glad to know that the Yankees or Red Sox won’t be snapping up Tulo as a free agent any time soon, lengthy contracts can be worrisome in baseball, where the money is guaranteed.  The deal should serve to put a ceiling on Jeter’s contract.  It would be difficult to argue that a Jeter approaching 40 is worth more than Tulo in his prime.

In a recent edition of Sports Illustrated, I saw some ads for the publication’s annual swimsuit edition, which is now a multimedia experience – not just the magazine, but a calendar, video, and more.  It made me wonder how much of SI’s revenue comes from swimsuit model and how much comes from the coverage of sports?  My favorite sports publication, Sports Weekly, doesn’t have a swimsuit edition, or anything even close to it.  That’s probably a good thing – I really have no interest in seeing Paul White in a Speedo.