USM

With UH playing Southern Miss on Friday I figured I'd show everyone some info on their football team. For one, they beat us this year during our 3 game losing streak 31-27. But they were at home and this was before we discovered how amazing Anthony Aldridge is running the ball. But the coolest thing I uncovered is their pregame intro. This is what they show before running onto the field. Apparently, it gets the crowd pretty fired up.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jy8saMIyyIk

the real Borat ?!?!

With all the publicity around Borat right now comes a man claiming he was the impetus behind the character. In 1999 he created a website so he could find a mate. It did have some buzz in the internet community, with many from around the world falling in love with his charm, including Bill Gates. You can view the webpage below.

http://www.istanbul.tc/mahir/mahir/

In the commentary track for the DVD of Da ALi G show (where the Borat character was first displayed by comic Sasha Baron Cohen) Cohen states it was based off a real person (a doctor) he met in southern Russia. The guy was supposedly hilarious despite not trying to be.

If you look on the map Turkey is near southern Russia, though Mahir's town of Izmir is pretty far away. (Check it out, it's a good geography lesson-if you scroll up a bit from Turkey you'll see Nina's home country of Bosnia across from Italy)

Not sure if the character was "stolen" from Mahir-maybe it's just a coincidence. Even if it was, it was only based off him. It's not like Mahir created a movie or a comedic sketch. Hell, it's like making a movie based off anyone. I could make a movie based off one of you but you can't do anything about it. Personally I think that this guy is just trying to make some money since Borat is raking it in. Let me know what you think.

The Fat Cat's Get Even Fatter

Despite the NFL bulging at the seems with money I have an idea where they can make even more. But first, let me give you some background. For years, the NBA had the same tired setup for basketball games. A floor with rows of tiered seats around it. Then as the games got more popular, teams erected an upper bowl of seats. That was pretty much the standard for decades. Then basketball blew up and you had tons of cameramen behind the baskets and demand for the front row seating grew huge. It grew so huge, in fact, that teams decided "hey, we can make even more money by putting chairs on the floor". They could only fit a couple rows of these seats but with the great demand for front row seating these seats would provide a large enough supply.

NBA owners made bundles off of this idea and putting suites into the mid-level between the upper bowl of seats and the lower bowl. But it came when the demand became great enough. Well that got me thinking about the NFL. It's the most popular sport in America and for I believe the first year, every team has sold out every game.

So, naturally, greedy owners need to make more money and come up with a way to get more out of us, the fans. I introduce to you, the sideline seats for the NFL.

Watch an NFL game. The sidelines are huge. There's probably about 10 yards of space there. Each team could probably put some seats behind the benches or allow fans to stand there behind their team. There'd have to be something keeping them from walking amongst the players, sure, but man the possibilities. Could you imagine the money you could get for this chance? And with sidelines so long the amount of people would be much more than the NBA courtside seats.

But I know what you're thinking. What would keep the fans from interfering with the players. Well, it's the same thing that keeps them from doing it at basketball games. I mean, you have fans right freaking behind the bench. They could punch a player or whatever. But nothing's happened yet and I don't think anything would happen here either. The idea is akin to all the big time college games you watch with famous celebrities on their alma mater's sidelines. Like Snoop with USC and Matthew McWhatever with UT. The tickets for this would be unbelievable. Let me know what you think. This idea's has got to be floating around out there somewhere.

Rosen-what?

It's another week in the football world and another week of David Carr controversies. Just a couple weeks ago, the big thing was Sage Rosenfels should the starter after his near comeback win vs. Tennessee. Everyone thought he was the answer and proof that Carr sucked since he did bad and Sage did so well. So with the game close and Carr injured, Sage comes into the game. And what did he do? Well, not much. We did win the game but Sage did absolutely nothing. David had already done the damage to the Jaguars. Sage just handed off repeatedly.

Personally, I'm glad. I think David is a decent QB and obviously better than Rosenfels. He gets a bad rap for various reasons. I think we can definitely win with him and I can see that happening as soon as next year.

A lot of people erroneously thought Sage was great because he led us back from like 21 points down. But these fans need to realize that when a team is up 21 points they play defense a little differently. They play more of a prevent type defense. They'll give you short to intermediate passes all day. They just won't allow you to pass deep. They also rush much less often so they have more protection against the pass.

So it's not surprise Rosenfels was able to pass down the field. Hopefully, with a much easier schedule in the second half, the Texans can string a few wins together. Then maybe people will get off David's back and see why we made him the #1 pick.

What did you expect ?

Bonzi Wells is at it again. He's not playing for the Rockets right now after missing the entire pre-season due to "personal issues". Of course, there are multiple pictures out showing him at various hotspots around town so the "personal issues" must have been not enough pussy-or something along those lines.

But now that he's not playing (because the coach thinks he's not in NBA shape yet) he's bitching about playing time. And anyone familiar with Bonzi knows he's a timebomb waiting to go off. Not quite the TO-type but maybe more the Carl Everett-type.

Which leads me to why we signed the guy. After he turned down a huge contract last year (worth $36 M) he signed with us for $2M for 1 year. It's because no one else wanted him. The other teams knew the problems that may come with his addition. I'm guessing the Rockets thought they could control him but they don't have a vocal presense in the locker room that can control an Everett-type (like Biggio and Bagwell did w/the Astros). TMAC? No. Yao-can't speak well enough. Battier-likely candidate but he's too new, first year. So instead we're left with a timebomb waiting to go off.

What Van Gundy needs to do is to try playing him as much as possible early in the game to try and keep him happy. It's still early so his damage can be overcome later in the game. All the while running his ass off in practice to get him in shape. If he keeps mouthing off, then just make him inactive and/or release him. He only makes $2M and I think Les is willing to bite the bullett on one player vs. a whole team. This is definitely a situation to be watched closesly.

US wins the 2010 World Cup

Sure, I'm dreaming here but I think we're going to do fantastic in 4 years. The reason why is that we're in talks to add Juergen Klinsmann as our head coach. He led Germany to the Semifinals before losing to the eventual champs Italy. They were arguably one of the biggest surprises of the tournament this past year.

Klinsmann took over the German head spot amongts great controversy. He was a star of their 90, 94, and 98 Cup teams scoring 11 goals, 5th most in Cup history. But that wasn't the concern. It was because he's lived in America since retiring and the fact that his wife is American too. It doesn't seem like much to us but when you're a Euro and you're talking soccer, or football, well, America is like a four letter word. It's like Mexicans playing basketball. There could be some good ones out there but no one's seen them.

So he had a lot against him from the start with his American ties. Then he changed up their philosophy, going to a much more up tempo style of play. He also introduced American training methods that were non-existent in European soccer (resistance training, weights, etc). Many Germans were ready to fire him but then something happened. The team started winning and Germans loved him. He did so well that he had many arguing he was the best coach in soccer.

Reports surfaced that he was interested in coaching here and here we are today. With his interest and our available money it's only a matter of time before the partnership begins.

I see many things changing once he signs on. First off, he's already very familiar with our players having watched lots of games living in California. As an outsider, he probably noticed we were not attacking much in the last Cup. With his scoring background, he will likely put our forwards in much better position to score. I think you'll see a much better showing from Landon Donavan (who played like shit last time) and better passing all around.

The previous coach, Bruce Arena, went with 1 forward for a couple of the matches and it backfired miserably. He tried Donovan at the forward spot and it took away from his midfield control as he had the ball less than normal. I think Klinsmann will play a much more attack friendly style (like the Houston Dynamo) and it will take advantage of our quickness. This, along with his background, will have the American players much more attentive than they were with Arena. There were reports in the first match in the last Cup of players not happy with his style.

So memo to US Soccer. If you do anything right, please make it be this. Sign Klinsmann and watch us do well four years from now. Sure we may not win it all (and I highly doubt we will) but we'll be much improved from our 06 showing and I think we'll return to our 02 form when we were in the Semi's.

Election Day (or Nightmare depending on the outcome)

Tomorrow is Election Day-make sure you go vote. It's easy and it doesn't take long. Furthermore, your boss is required by law to allow you time to vote. So go out and do it on the way to work or on your way home. Or even during lunch. Just make sure you vote.

But I know what you're thinking, you have no idea who to vote for. Well, this is where I come in handy. Vote Kinky for Governor and anyone but Republicans for your local district race. It will all be better this way. I may be completely wrong, but it surely couldn't be any worse than what we've currently got. Make your voice heard.

Borat

I saw Borat the other day and I've got to say it's quite possibly the funniest movie I've ever seen. It lived up to the hype and then some. Unlike most comedies, I laughed almost the entire time. It's not just one or two hilarious spots. If you're thinking about seeing it, trust me, go ASAP.

Here's a clip of Borat on Letterman last week.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wFWu7-koINo

Dynamo Advance

In case you missed it, and chances are you did since Sunday is football day, the Dynamo defeated the Colorado Rapids 3-1 yesterday. The victory earned them a spot in the MLS Cup 2006 (AKA the Championship game) Nov. 12.

For more info on the game and to vote on the Goal of the Year (2 of the 5 finalists are Dynamo players) check out www.mlsnet.com

NFL Draft Recap Part 1

It's Week 8 and it's time to revisit the controversial picks of the recent draft.

Reggie Bush-This guy is totally overrated. Of course I think he's talented but he hasn't done anything to warrant the hype yet. He splits time with Deuce and he's had an okay year (despite how ESPN will try and spin it). He's played 7 games and ran for 212 yards with a 3.0 yards/carry. He's also caught 42 passes for 290 yards and 6.9 yards/catch. No touchdowns rushing or receiving. His return stats really don't matter because elite players don't return (you'll see him stop returning once he's the focal point of their offense). So if you're a Texans fan, he's a Ron Dayne that catches a few passes. That's it. Nothing more.

Vince Young-He's started 4 games and has 4 TD's and 4 INT's thus far. He's only passed for 599 and has completed 47.4% of his passes. Predictably his passer rating of 60.3 is one of the lowest in the entire league. I'm surprised he's even playing at this point since he ran arguably one of the most simple offenses in college football (especially considering his wonderlic score-what a moron). But, like they did with Steve McNair early in his career, the Titans are taking things very slowly. They are giving him a lot of dumpoffs and slant routes which are easy for QB's to complete. They aren't asking much of him. Just to hand the ball off and pass on 3rd and long. And so far, he's done this well, leading them to a 2-2 record in his starts. He looks like a WR playing QB right now. Give him a couple years and we'll see if he's grasped playing QB yet. My money is he will.

Mario Williams-If you were uninformed (or listened to ESPN) you'd think this guy was the next Tony Mandarich or Ryan Leaf. But after a slow start Mario has really picked things up. He has 3 1/2 sacks and a fumble recovery. He also leads his team's D-lineman in tackles with 17. I think the Texans have to be real happy with his results thus far. Especially when you compare him to other elite DE's around the league. Dwight Freeney has 7 tackles and 0.5 sacks in the same 7 games. Michael Strahan has 24 and 3.

It's still very early but Texans fans should be happy with what Mario has done for them. Reggie has been a bit of a disappointment and Vince is still taking his lumps. So far, Mario's arguably been the best of the Top 3 draft picks this year. So please, stop calling radio shows and spouting ignorance about how good someone would be in a Texans uniform. Mario's doing well. We can only hope he turns it up one more notch and becomes Julius Peppers. And just imagine if we had Domanick Davis back. I think we might have a .500 record.