According to USA Today, Obama, following his pledge to not hire any lobbyists, has in fact hired 21 former lobbyists. These former lobbyists include the Deputy Secretary of Defense who was a Raytheon lobbyist, a senior Treasury aide who was a Goldman Sachs lobbyist and a former lobbyist for La Raza.
. . . is the Arizona Cardinals in the NFC championship game. It used to be that there were certain teams you could always count on sucking in the NFL – Tampa Bay, Seattle, New Orleans, Detroit, and Arizona. The first two have been perenial contender for a number of years now (Seattle’s current season notwithstanding), and New Orleans has been a scary team over the last couple of seasons. Arizona was having a good year when they basically had no competition in their division (someone had to win the NFC West), but by all indicators they were going to get blown up in the playoffs.
Now they just laid a smackdown on the Carolina Panthers (exactly one analyst at NFL Fanhouse picked Arizona to win), we’re going to see Arizona in the NFC Championship game. There is no way this should have happened – it’s not like the Giants last year, who were the underdogs in all their games as well – these are the Arizona Cardinals. They were supposed to be cursed to mediocrity forever. Clearly there were some background deals made involving souls, one Mr. Satan and the arrival of the end times.
Ah well, so long as it’s not Arizona and Detriot playing for the NFC Championship, the Dark One’s schemes will be held in check. At 0-16, it looks like it might be a while before Detriot is ready for prime-time.
I was watching Jim Rome Is Burning today, and he noted that the Women’s Basketball PAC-10 game between Washington and Stanford was a bit lopsided – to the tune of 112-35. That has to be some kind of record.
But that was nothing compared to the clip Rome played of another PAC-10 game from last season between Oregon State and Arizona (which is apparently the *only* video not to be found on YouTube). In the double overtime game, Arizona finished the game with only two players – all the others having fouled out. Apparently, Arizona only started the game with six players and, well, long games take their toll.
Still, an NCAA Division I basketball game that ends five-on-two – that is the definition of epic.
In general, I think darts is kinda boring, but watch this:
Wikipedia explains what you just saw.
First off they bring in Keith Olbermann. Ok, I know he used to be pretty good on SportsCenter, but everytime I see him, all I can think of is just how much a jackass the self-anointed reincarnation of Edward R. Murrow is, and I reflexively change the channel.
Then, they have Tiki Barber. I think Tiki is a smart, charming guy and one of the best running backs the Giants ever had, but (and you knew that was coming) the way he acted after leaving the team makes you pretty certain that he was causing a lot of behind the scenes problems, and he seems just a tad bit bitter that the Giants won it all the season after he left.
Now, they brought in 0-16 Matt Millen. WTF. Apart from Al Davis and Jerry Jones, I don’t think there’s a more divisive manager in football (and at least Al Davis and Jerry Jones put together winning teams). Millen was an absolutely terrible GM, botching draft choice after draft choice. I don’t care how much he’s liked – all I can see Fire Millen signs from furious Lions fans (who, just a couple weeks ago, got their wish). When he chimes in, all I can think of is the fact he oversaw an 8 year period with a winning percentage of just 24%. Last season was the best under Millen’s tenure – with a record of 7-9. Mike Shannahan, who was just fired by the Broncos, at his worst had a 6-10 season (and that was just after Elway retired). In that same time period, only the Houston Texans failed to have at least one winning season (and at least they broke even).
You’d think NBC would at least tell him to take a shower to rinse the stink off, but in the same season as being fired for putting the Lions in the same class as the ‘76-’77 Bucs, NBC brought him on as an analyst. That’s kinda like bringing in Walter Mondale for political commentary after the ‘84 election or Kimbo Slice for MMA commentary.
