Deleted Account

How true this is! It's sad to see anyone ruin their lives, especially how the Vicks have done it.

Exactly.

Outside USC, the Pac-10's awfully bad this year. UCLA, Wazzu, UW are all bad teams. Stanford, Arizona State, and Oregon State are mediocre at best. Arizona's fair. Oregon and Cal aren't too bad. That's the whole conference. Yes, I'd say the ACC is better, outside the #1 spot. Believe it or not, the ACC is 32-10 in OOC games. The Pac-10 is 1-7 against the MWC.

Now, I'll agree to disagree here if it comes to this, but this is what I believe. 1. At one time, there was a certifiable need for unions. There truly was. In the early part of the 20th century, conditions in mines, textile mills, and assembly lines were putrid. However, thanks to the ascendancy of John L. Lewis to the presidency of the UMWA, things started to turn around for the better, but the process was slow. The Wagner Act of 1935 help increased union membership tremendously. Hard, tight-fisted work helped ensure the passage of the Federal Mine Safety Act in 1952 and the Landrum-Griffin Act of 1959. Things were starting to come up. Frankly, this was all the legislation needed in this area. Pay started to increase, the mines started to boom. All was well. 2. However, like most things in life, unions started to become less of a driving force behind economic progress and more of a blockade. All the legislation was currently in place to protect the miners, and in a perfect world, the unions would taper off to a maintenance level. Alas, it did not. Unions kept pushing for more, more, more, more over the 1960s and early 1970s. And whatever the unions wanted, the unions got. They got their better pay, better benefits. On the surface, this is a great thing, please don't get me wrong. However, coal energy stayed a fairly consistent price on the marketplace. Unions kept unceasingly demanding more, more, more for their members. See the problem here? This is before my time, but this is EXACTLY what led to the mine layoffs/closings in the 1970s. The market just couldn't sustain itself anymore. And my father was a casualty of this. 3. Thus, my conclusion: unions are not economically viable anymore. When you have to pay workers more money because GM strikes every other summer, or because airline pilots aren't satisfied with a 6-figure salary, or because a union demanded a different brand of soap in its members' bathrooms (I kid you not), this constricts the market, and has 1 of 2 effects. One, the outlandish costs of implementing this are passed on to me and you (pilot example). Two, hundreds of people are laid off (GM example). And these are good for our economy how? Again, I can't state this enough, legislation is currently in place to prevent a company tyranny, and has been since the 1950s. Unions are far removed from usefulness. Look around us, people. There's a reason McDowell County's lost 70% of its population in the last 50 years. There's a reason Bramwell no longer has more millionaires per resident than any other town in the United States. There's a reason we have to see our high schools consolidated left and right. There's a reason why this area loses 1.7% of its population every year. And it ENRAGES me. I want to see this area prosper. I want to come back home to live in a prosperous area, where business is booming, where life is good. Now, unions are not the only cause of this problem, and I'd have to be dim-witted to suggest that they are. However, if you think that unions have helped this area by attracting businesses, providing desperately-needed jobs to our youth, and sustaining the only true cash cow to come out of this area, you're woefully, terribly misguided. That's why I vehemently refuse to support unions.

I think it's not unforeseeable that all three of Texas, Alabama, and PSU could win out, but I don't think that's likely, either. I think PSU wins out if they beat Ohio State this weekend, and I truly think they will. Frankly, I don't think Texas wins out, and I don't think Alabama beats LSU. IMO, were a one-loss team to get the nod, I'd have to go with USC. Save that Oregon State game, they've steamrolled teams. Granted, the Pac-10 is WEAK this season, weaker than even the ACC save each conference's top team, but USC is USC.

From someone who's had to choke down a putrid offense since Musgrave left back in 2005, I think I have some perspective. Question #1: YES. There aren't as many tools as in years past, but they're there. You have an athletically gifted QB who is at a crossroads in his college career. He could either turn into the next collegiate Michael Vick, or he could turn into Reggie Ball. When a QB is THAT fast and has THAT much of a cannon, the supporting skill positions can afford to be not-as-sterling as they have been in the past. Question #2: Easier than you think. Stinespring's rock-ribbed conservative when it comes to his play-calling. There's a reason your rushing offense is 40th and your passing offense is 113th in the NCAA, respectively. With the corps of your WRs, he's being more conservative than usual, and thus far, it's been barely enough to get by the Coastal contenders. This year, it may be all you need, and it perpetuates the cycle. And I know about perpetuating the cycle.

Indeed he is! There's about a 5% chance that this ref had a "football flashback". There's a 95% chance that this was intentional. No way that's accidental: he lunged into the ball carrier.

Washing machines don't have astrophysics degrees from Princeton. ;)

Come on, Wes Colley's a local boy. Right from Abingdon High School, as a matter of fact. Actually had a class under him at UVA, too. Unbelievably smart.

"Oh, it funny because it true!"

How about this scenario: UVA steals the game against GT next weekend. Makes the last weekend in November a LOT more interesting...

I have a few gallons of Drano I haven't popped the top on. Haven't needed it in a few weeks, for sure. That's a tough loss, especially as many opportunities as your defense gave your offense.

Lou Holth?

I wouldn't mind this. :)

It's a shame, really. I hate to see this happen to a great individual. The body's weaker than the spirit, often.

I think UNC may do alright for themselves. They have that Hansbrough kid. I hear he works hard... An NIT birth would be good for UVA this year.

Fine by me! Get him out of the DC spot ASAP! :D

Have to...fight it. Agreeing...too much...with GMan...

How true this is.

Haha, damage control indeed! Man, what a mess they've got themselves into down at Clemson...

As the gas prices now fall to $2.55 in central PA...

This is insightful analysis, and it does call into question just how much he knows the heart of Appalachia. Still, I think most of what he says stands. Most...

Haha!

Haha, not a bad guess, then!

Link: http://msn.foxsports.com/nfl/story/8679946?MSNHPHMA Story: LOS ANGELES (AP) - Chris Mims, a former defensive lineman for the San Diego Chargers beset by legal problems, was found dead in his downtown apartment Wednesday. He was 38. Authorities said there was no evidence of foul play. Mims played eight seasons in the NFL, seven with the Chargers and one with the Washington Redskins. He retired in 2000, finishing with 42 sacks and 10 forced fumbles in 104 games. The 6-foot-5 Mims battled weight problems and once referred to himself as the "Fat Doctor" because he often tipped the scales at more than 300 pounds. Mims was drafted out of Tennessee in the first round by San Diego in 1992. He had a career-high 11 sacks when the Chargers won the AFC in 1994. He returned the next season but made only two sacks. After the 1995 season ended following a playoff loss to Indianapolis, Mims was almost an hour late for the team's final meeting, coming out of a limousine disheveled. The Chargers released him in 1997. A year later, Mims was convicted of refusing to take a blood-alcohol test after being pulled over for suspicion of drunken driving. His driver's license was suspended for a year. A judge had previously found Mims innocent of driving under the influence because prosecutors failed to prove their case. In 1999, a man claimed Mims attacked him outside a fast-food restaurant and stole his tacos. Tennessee Vols coach Phillip Fulmer, who was offensive coordinator at the time Mims was a player, recalled how Mims and his teammates helped turn around a struggling defense in the early '90s. "I had to coach against him every day in practice, and that was no fun," Fulmer said Thursday. "That's really a sad thing, a very young person to be passing away at that age."