Greetings,

The Seattle Seahawks in conjunction with WIAA, USA Football and the Washington State Football Coaches Association (WSFCA) is offering an opportunity to High School and Middle School football coaches to attend an Introduction to "Heads Up Football".

Where: Seattle Seahawks training facility (VMAC)
When: Wednesday, May 14th - 5:30 to 7:30pm
Registration: No fee to attend
Clock Hours: WIAA will provide three (3) coaching clock hours for attending.
How to Register - Click on this link and submit your registration.
http://www.wiaa.com/FormEntry.aspx?ID=90

John Urschel, the Penn State All-American guard who claimed the 2013 William V. Campbell Trophy from the National Football Foundation (NFF) as college football’s premier scholar-athlete, has been named the winner of the 84th Sullivan Award, presented by the Amateur Athletic Union (AAU) to America’s top amateur athlete. The live announcement occurred during an awards ceremony on Friday, April 11 at the AAU National Headquarters in Orlando, Fla.

Urschel was selected from a pool of 19 semifinalists vying for the honor in 2014, and the Penn State All-American joined two other finalists, University of Florida track and field athlete Cory Ann McGee and University of Nebraska volleyball player Kelsey Robinson, for the live announcement of the winner at the event in Orlando.

First presented in 1930, the Sullivan Award honors an athlete who demonstrates the qualities of leadership, character, sportsmanship, and the ideals of amateurism. Past football recipients of the Sullivan Award include College Football Hall of Fame inductees Felix “Doc” Blanchard (Army, 1945), Arnold Tucker (Army, 1946) and Charlie Ward (Florida State, 1993), and NFF National Scholar-Athletes and William V. Campbell Trophy winners Peyton Manning (Tennessee, 1997), Tim Tebow (Florida, 2007) and Andrew Rodriguez (Army, 2011).

NEW YORK, N.Y. — June 10, 2010 — Herman Lewis Masin, the longest-serving editor of one magazine in American history, and among the most influential figures in the field of interscholastic athletics and coaching, died on June 8, 2010. He was 96.
After graduating from New York University in 1936, he got his first and only job as editor ofScholastic Coach. He held that job until December 2008 – editing the publication and writing his column, "Here Below," from a mechanical typewriter. Mr. Masin was born in Bronx, NY, on June 21, 1913. He died of natural causes.
Under Mr. Masin's leadership, Scholastic Coach published one of the first articles written on modern strength training in November 1949. In 1972, long before anabolic steroids became a controversial issue, the magazine published an article on its use by European track athletes, written by U.S. discus champion L. Jay Silvester.

Perhaps even more significant was Mr. Masin's campaign for safer blocking rules in football. The use of the head as a battering ram had resulted in numerous catastrophic head and neck injuries over the years, and Herman used his column to raise awareness of this danger. When the National Federation of State High School Associations finally passed a rule prohibiting the use of the top of the head in blocking, the executive director wrote to say that the new regulation should be called, "The Masin Rule."

Throughout his tenure with Scholastic Coach, Mr. Masin also cultivated many young, promising coaches including Al Davis, Jack Ramsay and Ben Schwartzwalder, all of whom had articles published in the magazine. He also corresponded frequently with Coach John Wooden, who passed away at the age of 99 on June 4.

I believe the election will be a no vote runaway. University is running a classic anti-union campaign, speech from Fitz on no need for 3rd parties to come between us, letters to parents (usually it’s sent home to the employee so wife gets to read) and oh by the way team you should know, in the pipeline and completely unrelated to the union, there will be an additional helmet option and everyone will get an ipad next season.

I put the over/under on yes votes at 10.

Monken called for a kicker following a scrimmage-like practice on Wednesday. The kicker jogged onto the field without full pads and was sent to the sideline.

Monken asked for another kicker in full pads and only one ran onto the field. The coach told the rest of the special teams to go to the locker room and come back in full pads.

After the period, Monken asked the special-teams group why they thought it was all right to not wear full pads during practice.

"That's what we did last year," one player said.

That's not the answer Monken wanted to hear. Kickers and punters stayed after practice. Monken told them to drop to the turf and roll across most of the field in full pads.

"I want everybody to pay attention to all the little things, every detail, and that's a little detail," Monken said. "When you take the field and you are not properly equipped, you are not allowed to play and it's a penalty on the team. So come out to practice appropriately in the dress of the day, that's easy to do. Just do it right. It wasn't just them, there were some other guys."

You might be a redneck if: It never occurred to you to be offended by the phrase, 'One nation, under God.'

You might be a redneck if: You've never protested about seeing the Ten Commandments posted in public places.

You might be a redneck if: You still say 'Christmas' instead of 'Winter Festival.'

You might be a redneck if: You bow your head when someone prays.

You might be a redneck if: You stand and place your hand over your heart when they play the National Anthem.

You might be a redneck if: You treat our armed forces veterans with great respect, and always have.

You might be a redneck if: You've never burned an American flag, and don't  intend to.

You might be a redneck if: You know what you believe and you aren't afraid to say so, no matter who is listening.

You might be a redneck if: You respect your elders and raised your kids to do the same.

You might be a redneck if: You'd give your last dollar to a friend.

Everyone parents differently, and I respect that. The current generation may be one that expects nothing less than everything from this world.  But I know of two gentlemen (her two boys) that are going to be able to accept failure and move on having learned something from it. 

I know of two gentleman who will be hurt emotionally, but who will be able to work through the hurt and carry on with life.  I will cushion the emotional fall as much as a mom can, but I will not completely prevent it from happening. They will not expect whoever hurt them to be punished.  Heck, I might even teach my children the power of forgiveness. 

These two gentlemen will understand the value of hard work, and know that hard work is required to get where one wants to be in life. 

They will, while understanding the need for caution, appreciate that not everyone out there is out to get them.  Not everyone is out to do evil things. 

These gentlemen will understand that there are about a gazillion people in this world.  While they are incredibly special to me and my family, they are not special to the world.  That probably sounds terrible, but people!  It's the harsh truth, and it needs embraced!

I know that I can't change the mindset of modern parents.  That's never been and never will be my goal.  I just want to make sure that I raise my sons to grow into respectable men who can thrive and succeed, due to having been prepared to do so.

My kids are not the center of my world because I love them enough not to allow them to be.

By Peter Rolfe - Melbourne Herald …

Thousands of junior footballers in up to 150 leagues will be forced to play with no scoreboard, ladders or match results under the shake-up designed to promote participation rather than competition.

Footy-loving kids will this year also be barred from representative sides, play on smaller grounds, in smaller teams for less time under changes to be unveiled by the AFL in the next fortnight.

The scoring ban, previously restricted to under-8 and, in some cases, under-9 competition in Victoria, will this year be phased into many under-10 competitions.

Other leagues will phase in some changes this year and the remainder next year.

AFL national development manager Josh Vanderloo said the new rules had been drafted in consultation with leagues to give children “an enjoyment philosophy rather than a winning philosophy’’.

“Our research shows that kids play the game to have fun and not just to win,’’ he said.

“This game is for kids and these rules and regulations have been prescribed for kids so it will be better for them.’’

In another shift, strict rules about contact have been relaxed so that “full tackling’’, usually confined to under 13s, will now be acceptable among under 11s.

An AFL guide for the conduct of players aged five to 12, titled “This is Our Game’’, spells out the match-day regulations for under-9 and under-10 players.

“No premiership points, no finals, no ladders, no match result (no score) and no names of players published,’’ it says.

Representative teams will not be allowed at under-11 level, under-9 and under-10 teams will be reduced from 18 to as few as 12 players.

And ground sizes will be restricted to 100m x 80m divided into three equal zones for under-9 and under-10 ­matches.

The Northern Football League will this season apply the no scoring, no ladder, no match result philosophy to its under-10 players.

League chief Peter McDougall admitted the changes would be contentious and said he had ordered 5000 flyers to help explain their ­implementation.

“You’re always going to get some coaches and parents who think their kids should be playing for sheep stations,” he said.

“Some parents will be shocked, no doubt, but our focus is on education and helping them understand the philosophy of the changes.’’

Laurimar Junior Football Club tried the changes on Sunday, putting under-10 player’s through their paces with revised rules.

Club vice president Andrew Jamieson said children were “not very happy”.

The AFL drafted the new guidelines in conjunction with Deakin University research.

peter.rolfe@news.com.au

Women of the world . . .

I know I'm not the most sensitive man in the world. I have my times where I am particularly insufficiently attuned to your needs, particularly during football season. From time to time, I find your thinking illogical, contradictory, or simply not sensible, and I express that opinion, with usually deeply regrettable consequences.

But to the extent I understand you, I grasp that you've got a lot on your shoulders. You feel like everyone is always counting on you, and you feel that way because usually, everyone really is counting on you. Your husbands and boyfriends may try their best, but there's always more to be done, and it falls to you. You keep track of all the little things. You're not appreciated nearly enough. Toddlers with peanut butter on their fingers hug you when you're heading out the door in your work clothes.

Your bosses expect a lot of you, your kids expect a lot of you, your parents expect a lot of you, your spouses expect a lot of you, you want to be there for your friends when they need you, your siblings fit in somewhere between the friends and the parents, and if you're going to take care of the caretaker, as they recommend, that requires time and energy and attention and mental space, all of which feel like valuable and increasingly rare resource. It feels like there is never, ever, ever enough time.*

So I get that life throws a lot of problems and challenges at you, day after day.

But if I asked you to list the ten, or twenty, or a hundred, or five hundred biggest problems in your life . . . I'm guessing "being called bossy" wouldn't make the list.

It's just not a big enough problem to warrant a celebrity-laden national awareness campaign, compared to everything else. People have been calling you names since kindergarten. The Internet is one giant F-bomb-laden torrent of abuse, assessment of your appearance, and vulgar threats. You get called worse names by the guy trying to cut you off on your morning commute. Compared to all that, being called "bossy" is almost quaint in its passive-aggressiveness. I'm betting you would happily trade a half-hour of being called "bossy" by everyone you know in exchange for two hours of uninterrupted "me time" once a week.

I'm sure someone will call me a jerk for saying this aloud, but trying to ban the word "bossy" sounds whiny. Allegedly, a big part of feminism is celebrating strong women, and encouraging them to express that strength and determination and ability to overcome adversity; a strong woman doesn't crumble in the face of criticism or even nasty names. Nobody ever thought better of someone else because they whined, and if calling a woman "bossy" really could hold her back, no woman would ever run anything. As a criticism, the label "bossy" is pretty impotent, to offer a metaphor that Freudian psychologists will analyze for weeks.

You know who gets called "bossy" a lot? Bosses. And bosses run things. They get stuff done. That's why they became the boss, and why they're still the boss.

SAN FRANCISCO (CBS/AP) — An independent commission led by a former U.S. surgeon general (that would be that wacko Dr. Joycelyn Elders - HW) has concluded there “is no compelling medical reason” for the U.S. armed forces to prohibit transgender Americans from serving and that President Barack Obama could lift the decades-old ban without approval from Congress, according to a report being released Thursday.

A bill designed to protect high school student-athletes cleared its final passage in the Indiana General Assembly today. The bill now moves to the governor’s desk, where it could be signed into law.

The bill would mandate safety training for football coaches who instruct athletes younger than 20 years of age and who use a state or municipally owned facility. Coaches would be required to complete a training course at least once during a two-year period, which would include content on concussion awareness, equipment fitting, heat emergency preparedness and proper technique.

Under the legislation, a high school athlete who is removed from play because of a suspected concussion or head injury would not be allowed to return to play until at least 24 hours have passed.

“In high-contact sports like football, students are more vulnerable to serious injuries that can have long-term effects,” said Sen. Travis Holdman, the bill’s author. “But this shouldn’t keep them from playing a sport they enjoy. The training and procedures outlined in this bill will give coaches the resources and knowledge they need to keep their athletes safe.”

The bill also provides civil immunity for football coaches who comply with training requirements and act in good faith. Coaches would not be personally liable for a student athlete’s concussion or head injury, except in cases of negligence or misconduct.

Holdman said more than 30 medical and sports organizations have expressed support for a coaches’ training program. These include the Amateur Athletic Union, NCAA, NFL, Big Ten Conference, Indiana Football Coaches Association and Indiana High School Athletic Association. USA Football also supports the bill.

“The Indiana High School Athletic Association applauds the work of Senator Travis Holdman to assist in the ongoing mission of providing safe and healthy sporting experiences to Hoosier youth,” IHSAA Commissioner Bobby Cox said. “In concert with the efforts of the senator, the IHSAA continues to augment educational opportunities for our dedicated adults that choose to work with students in the interscholastic arena.”

Former NFL linebacker Rosevelt Colvin, an Indianapolis native and current resident who helped the New England Patriots win two Super Bowls, also expressed his support for the bill. Colvin has two grade school-age boys who play youth football.

“Speaking as a youth football coach as well as the parent of two boys who love playing football, I can assure you that this is a strong step forward for our kids,” Colvin said. “Every young player’s mom and dad also chalks up a win with this news. Nothing is more important than our children’s health, and until other sports catch up to football, we’ll take the lead in coach education.”

When the kids were stretching and warming up. Jim would go out there and start doing some push-ups. He was offense, and I was defense. We used to talk a little junk. We were trying to foster that environment because the Stanford kids were the opposite of a lot of other kids at that time. They were downtrodden and hadn't won many games. They were almost too, "Yes sir, no sir." We were like, Hey, we've got to get these kids to loosen up.

Everything was a competition. Everything. I remember Jim played running back in [an] Oklahoma drill and didn't have any pads on. The kid thudded him and everyone went nuts. Everything turned into such a great competition. I can't tell you how many times we went off script in practice because it turned into a war. They were fighting to win a competition, every single warm-up and practice. He was doing push-ups up there.

One of my players, I don't remember who, said, "Coach are you going to let him do that?"

I said, "What?"

He said, "He's trying to show you up doing push-ups."

I ran right up next to him and said, "I'm in."

We started with, like, 25 push-ups and added one every day. By the end of the season, we're up to the worst 150 push-ups you ever saw. It kind of got the kids going and got 'em fired up. At our banquet, we had a highlight video and they showed us, and (AD) Bob Bowlsby said, "I think those are the worst push-ups I've ever seen."

IRVING, Texas (Feb. 25, 2014) – The Football Writers Association of America (FWAA) and the National Football Foundation (NFF) announced today that they will jointly conduct a weekly  major-college football poll during the 2014 season.

Officially, the poll will be known as the “FWAA-NFF Grantland Rice Super 16” poll, named in honor of the great sportswriter who became an influential leader of the NFF during its early years in the late 1940s. Rice played a key role in the history of both organizations as an FWAA member and NFF president. His name adorns the FWAA national championship trophy that has been presented since 1954, and he helped select the FWAA All-America teams until his death in 1954.

“We are proud to partner with the FWAA on the launch of the Grantland Rice Super 16 poll,” said NFF President & CEO Steve Hatchell. “Objectivity represents a core value for both our organizations, and we hope that by combining the credibility of both our organizations that we’ll provide a fun reference point for fans to follow during the college football season.”

The pollsters will consist of FWAA writers, College Football Hall of Famers and NFF Board Members. The poll aims to draw on the vast knowledge of the nation’s top journalists with extensive experience covering college football in combination with some of the greatest legends to have ever played or coached the game as well as the perspectives of several of the gridiron’s most respected and influential administrators.

“We are extremely excited to announce this first poll in conjunction with the National Football Foundation at a time when major college football is ushering in a new era,” said 2014 FWAA President Kirk Bohls. “I can’t think of a better partner in jointly producing the ‘Grantland Rice Super 16’ poll of the best teams in the nation.

“Our poll will include distinguished past presidents of the FWAA as well as outstanding NFF Hall of Famers who have given so much to the game we all love and who hope to bring more insight to college football and enjoyment of this fine game. We feel we can provide a very valuable poll of some of the best-credentialed voters and most knowledgeable, objective college football minds around.”

The decision to conduct the new poll was made in December and January by the boards of both organizations at the conclusion of the 2013 season. Long-time partners since the formation of the two organizations in the 1940s, the FWAA and NFF will pool 36 voters (26 from the FWAA and 10 from the NFF) ranking the top 16 teams in the NCAA Football Bowl Subdivision. The poll will be announced on Sundays during the 2014 season, culminating with a final release on Dec. 7, the day after the conference championship games.

The 26 FWAA voters, all current or past writers of national stature, will be selected to ensure balanced-geographical representation. The 10 NFF voters, comprised of Hall of Fame players, coaches and administrators, will also add to the diversity of perspectives, coming from different conferences and regions of the country. The names and affiliations of the voters will be released to the general public in early summer, and their votes will be made public each week during the season.

The FWAA, which possesses a reputation as one of the foremost objective voices in college football, has conducted a pre-season poll for a number of years and has also had a weekly poll in the past. Both organizations have used panels at the conclusion of the college football season to determine the recipients of their respective national championship trophies. Since 1959, the NFF has presented the MacArthur Bowl, named for the famous Army general who was a guiding father of the NFF in the early years, and since 1954, the FWAA has bestowed the Grantland Rice Trophy to its national champion.

Afterward, he told The Valley News Dispatch of Tarentum, Pa., that even some of his neighbors did not believe his stories.

''A lot of people called me a liar,'' he said. ''Now they say: 'Gee whiz, here's a guy living in our hometown. We didn't know he was the first black quarterback.' Just like they didn't know, the rest of the country didn't know.''

As players have grown heavier in the N.F.L., shoulder pads have become lighter by as much as 50 percent over the past 10 to 15 years, manufacturers said. Gone the way of other fashion excesses of the 1980s are enormous pads that once cantilevered out from the shoulders and seemed to engulf a player like a treehouse for the head.

Dennis Metzger - Fountain City, Indiana
Josh Montgomery - Berwick, Louisiana
Manny Juncos - Chino, California

''It was just after World War II,'' remembered Collie Nicholson, who was Grambling's sports information director. ''I was watching him run over everybody he couldn't run around. I'd been a Marine in the South Pacific, and it reminded me of what I saw those tanks doing down there.''

''When Tank made it in pro football, he paved the way for everyone else in the black colleges,'' Nicholson said. ''He made it possible for a lot of young players who had been overlooked before.''

On a day when you could almost see the Louisiana heat shimmering at ground level along the tracks as far as the eye could see, Robinson and Younger went out to flag down the train. You could not help but wonder how out of so desolate a setting would come a player that would change the complexion of professional football forever.

"Now Tank, you understand you got to make this team," Robinson said. "You got to make it for all those who can come after you. If you don’t, it will never happen. Can you make it, Tank?"

There was just the two of them, standing in front of a boarded-up wooden shack that had once passed for the depot. Younger reached down for his cardboard suitcase, looked at the coach and said:

"If they playin’ volleyball, I don’t know. But if they playin’ football, I’ll make it."

NCAA Rules Committee

“The NCAA to consider new rules change to insure safety of the quarterback”

A new rule designed to insure the safety of the quarterback called the “# Mississippi Rule” will be instituted during the 2014-15 season. This rule described below is designed to lower the number of concussions sustained by quarterbacks.

Rule 14.204.333

Upon the snap of the ball, a defensive player shall NOT cross the line of scrimmage until said player has counted out loud to three, Example ”One Mississippi, Two Mississippi, Three Mississippi”. At the completion of counting to three the defensive player may proceed across the line of scrimmage and attempt to tackle the quarterback.

We hope the institution of this rule will not change the true meaning of the game and is not intended to give one team a unfair advantage over another team.

Sincerely,

NCAA Rules Committee

Following the 1957 season Warmath and his staff began to make recruiting moves which would pay enormous dividends three years later. "It always had been evident to us from the time we arrived at Minnesota that we couldn't win consistently with teams comprised almost entirely of homegrown players," he pointed out. "There simply were not the speed players coming out of the upper Midwest."

In late 1957 and early 1958 the staff began to go to places like Pennsylvania, Delaware, North Carolina and Illinois to seek top high school football players. When school started in 1958, Minnesota had secured players who in 1960 and 1961 would lead the school to its finest years since the Bierman era. They included Sandy Stephens, Judge Dixon, John Mulvena, Bob Frisbee and Tom Hall from outside the upper Midwest.

Not only was Warmath flying in the face of tradition by recruiting kids who were non-Minnesotans which irritated a lot of the old guard from the Bierman era, but he recognized the talents of the black athlete and made an effort to land them.

"It's tough enough for any kid to go away to school but if you're black and going to a place like Minnesota with a very small minority population, it's doubly intimidating," said Stephens. "One of the key people who made the transition easier was Carl Rowan, a black columnist for the Minneapolis papers. He impressed upon me and the other black recruits that the Twin Cities was a decent place to live and is a graduate of Minnesota, gave very high marks to the University."

"Rowan was instrumental in making the black athletes feel at ease and telling them that an education from Minnesota and life here was worth the commitment." Warmath added.

I was upfront with Warmath when I first met him," Judge Dixon remembered.  "I told him that I had some doubts. I was black and he was a white Southerner. This was 1958, remember, and the South was still steeped in Jim Crow.  But Coach Warmath was straight with me as he was with everybody. He said if I played by the rules, went to class and put out, he'd treat me fairly and didn't give a damn what color I was.  He always kept his word on that in my four years there."

Both Dixon and Stevens were highly recruited.  As stars out of the very competitive western Pennsylvania prep scene they had schools such as Michigan, USC and Ohio State recruiting them. Minnesota was chosen for a variety of reasons, Warmath being the most important.

"Murray told me from the beginning that he'd give me a shot at quarterback," Stephens remembered. "There were no black quarterbacks to speak of at the major college level in the late 1950s. I was taken by his honesty."

The 1958 incoming class was not only a turning point for Warmath and Minnesota football , it was a major milestone in the development of college football.  That year and in the years that followed, Warmath and his staff were at the vanguard in the advancement of black high school players into the college football scene, particularly when it came to recruiting players out of the South.  It wasn't until nearly 10 years later that Southeastern,  Atlantic Coast and Southwest Conference schools would knock down the segregation barriers. Until then,  it was the northern schools,  while not without their elements of racism, that offered the only chance for the black collegiate players.

Warmath was a force in starting that process.  True,  he needed their athletic abilities to turn his program around.  At the same time, he gave them opportunities they wouldn't have gotten elsewhere.
 
"Coach Warmath gave us opportunities not just on the football field, but in the classroom and later life that we would otherwise not have had," Stevens added.  "I will always be indebted to him for what he did for me."

PULLMAN — A Washington State University student was treated for hypothermia after he was found unconscious on campus when the temperature was minus-3 degrees.

The Moscow-Pullman Daily News reports emergency crews responded about 2:30 a.m. Thursday and found the 36-year-old Pullman man highly intoxicated outside the Honors Hall residence building.

He was transported to Pullman Regional Hospital for treatment of hypothermia and detoxification.

Here's a game I sometimes play with my students. I ask them to think of a song, not tell anyone what it is, and tap its beat on a table.  Next I ask them to predict how many other students in the room will correctly guess the song's name. They usually think that about half will get it.  Then I ask the rest of the students for their predictions - and no one ever gets it right.

The point is that when we know something and know it well, it is hard for us to appreciate what other people understand. This problem is sometimes called "the curse of knowledge." We all suffer from this affliction, but it is particularly severe for my fellow academics. We study things until they seem entirely natural to us and then assume that everyone else easily understands them, too.

Dear International Olympic Committee: You Had ONE JOB!

When Charles Lane wrote this piece (in the Washington Post) calling for an end to the Olympic tradition last month, it seemed hyperbolic: "Any benefits have to be weighed against the Olympics' costs, which are political, financial, moral and — for athletes ravaged by steroid abuse — human. . . . Supporters speak of the Olympics as a 'movement,' as if the Games were some sort of insurgent force for good, not the leviathan they are. What we really need is a movement to get rid of them."

Now, as we look at the worsening mess that is the Sochi Winter Olympics, we have to wonder whether the International Olympic Committee can be stopped before they run the games into the ground. Next stop, Brazil, where they're not sure they'll be ready in time, part of a stadium collapsed during construction, and the locals are protesting the billions going to stadium construction and other costs instead of helping the poor. Did I mention the drug traffickers shooting down police helicopters in Rio?

I know you're wondering how the IOC picked that city, but they had to; Mogadishu, Somalia, was already booked those weeks.

Russia was an astonishingly bad choice to host the games for so many different reasons: Putin's authoritarian tendencies, the country's ludicrous anti-gay law, and the massive threat of terrorism are three big reasons. But recent days have shown us so much more.

For starters, some of the basic structures and facilities aren't finished yet:

From the Black Sea resort of Sochi to the snow-draped peaks dwarfing the Rosa Khutor Extreme Park, Olympic fervor is mounting as thousands of workers scramble to finish grandiose projects. This isn't polishing the silver or closing out a punch list. This is full- blown construction, with the Opening Ceremonies on Friday and the first full day of competition Saturday.

Backhoes and dump trucks weave between buses full of reporters. Hotels seem weeks away from opening. Tile saws send dust spewing from restaurant doors draped in "Coming Soon!" posters. Roadways are clogged with cranes erecting street lights alongside crews installing guard rails.

Wait, there's more! "The Olympic Village in Sochi still looks very much like a work-in-progress. Sidewalks are half built; wiring is still unfinished; and piles of trash are collecting within a short distance from the Olympic Park. Of the nine media hotels planned for the Games, only six have been built with a last minute sprint to get the others finished before the Olympics officially commence."

Or how about the brutal approach to stray dogs? "The city of Sochi has hired a pest-control company to kill homeless animals by the hundreds, all in an effort to clean up the streets in advance of the Winter Games."

And apparently "hacking" is now an Olympic sport this year:

According to an NBC News report, unprepared Olympics attendees are being hacked the second they fire up their electronic devices.

NBC reporter Richard Engel worked with a security expert to set up two test computers in order to see just how quickly he'd be attacked when logging onto Russian networks. But, he reported, when sitting down at a cafe with the expert, "before we even finished our coffee" the bad actors had hit, downloading malware and "stealing my information and giving hackers the option to tap or even record my phone calls."

Once the two test computers went online, the hacking happened just as fast, Engel said. It took "less than 1 minute [for hackers] to pounce, and in less than 24 hours, they had broken into both of my computers.

But the story of the Sochi Olympics is one that must be seen, not told. From various reporters' Twitter feeds, we can see what we're missing by not shelling out the money to go.

For starters, you can't  drink the water in the Sochi hotels! Or even use it on your face!

Mike Lude, from his autobiography, "Walking the Line," 2004

Jacqueline Novogratz is the founder and CEO of Acumen Fund, a non-profit that raises charitable donations to invest in companies, leaders, and ideas that are changing the way the world tackles poverty. In this interview, she talks about her revolutionary approach to philanthropy that has impacted the lives of over 100 million people, what moved her to leave her safe world of banking to work with the poor, and the importance of humility and deep listening for anyone hoping to create deep change. Read on to learn about the journey of this self-proclaimed "relentless, pragmatic, determined optimist" who deeply believes in people and in human potential.

When I first went to Africa, I thought that I was personally going to save the continent, if not the world. The only way we really create change is to enter any situation with the humility to listen and to recognize the world as it is, and then the audacity to dream what it could be, to have the patience to start and let the work teach you, to be willing to lead when you need to lead, and to listen. To have a sense of generosity and empathy, but not over-empathy, because accountability is so critical to building solutions that work. If there’s one value that is immutable, it’s integrity or respect, for others and for yourself. The best change that comes to the world is when all parties are seeing each other as equal, and all parties have the opportunity to be transformed. That really goes back to the idea of dignity.

I do not use the high hookup chin strap. Several years ago, Jon Falk at MIchigan had a player get a broken jaw because his helmet came off.   Not long after that, Jon and I visited Schutt (helmet manufacturer) and we were able to do extensive testing with David Halstead (of Southern Impact Research Center, in Tennessee) and were able to determine that the angles created by the low hookup were more conducive to holding the helmet on the head (best way to explain this is when a person wants to take his helmet off with the high hookup all he has to do is unhook the back snaps and the helmet comes right off, but with the low hookup he has to undo the entire side.)

Also, the high hookups on the top are in the hitting area and are much more likely to be knocked off or damaged.

Before I switched to all low hookups I would have approximately 10 helmets come off per year during practice and games.  In the four years that I have been completely low hookup, I can name only two times that a helmet has come off.

The low hookup is a great deal safer in my opinion.

Back in the days when we dressed in the old gym and practiced on the field across from the plain and next to the baseball field: I was running late for practice and dressing in a hurry. I decided my pants were too loose and I strapped a piece of tape around my right thigh.  I was met on the edge of the practice field by Colonel Blaik himself who asked  me where I was going. “To practice,” I said. “Not dressed like that, you’re not!”  he said, pointing to the tape on my pant leg. I raced back to the gym and corrected the error.

He loved his family, his neighbors, Georgia Tech, the Atlanta Braves, bowling (he was a great bowler), the Atlanta Journal/Constitution (where his dad had worked), Waffle House, Hickory House and the Picadilly Cafeteria, and Little Debbie. He didn't get his final wish for Tech, which was to see Paul Johnson get fired, but hey, there's still time.

Have a 2.5 GPA or higher (4 point scale, unweighted)
Be in the top half of their graduating class
Have an SAT score of 1000 (math and verbal only) or higher, or ACT of 18 or higher

Mississippi's Gov. Frank "Boo" Burnham, the conservative who won a 2011 landslide, gave an interview Friday in which he demonstrated all that is wrong in American politics - all its division, its intolerance, its ignorance and sickness. Burnham damned and removed from the rolls of the respectable everyone in his state who is pro-choice, who is for some form of gun control, and who supports gay marriage. In a radio interview marked by a tone of smug indignation and self-righteousness, Burnham said "extreme liberals" who are "for abortion, who hate guns, who want homosexuals to marry - if that's who they are they're the extreme liberals, they have no place in the state of Mississippi because that's not who Mississippians are."

Players will attend all of their classes and sit in the front two rows of all of their classes.  GAs, academic folks, position coaches will be checking constantly now.

No headphones in class.  No texting in class.  Sit up and take notes.

If a player misses a class, he runs until it hurts.  If he misses two classes, his entire position unit runs.  If he misses three, the position coach runs.  The position coaches don't want to run.

No earrings in the football building.  No drugs.  No stealing.  No guns.  Treat women with respect.
Players may not live off campus anymore, unless they're a senior who hits certain academic standards. The University will buy out the leases for every player currently living off campus and put them in the athletic dorm.

The team will all live together, eat together, suffer together, and hang out together.  They will become a true team and learn to impose accountability on each other.  The cliques are over.

There's no time for a rebuild.  "I don't have time for that."  The expectation is that Texas wins now.

Players will learn that they would rather practice than milk a minor injury.

The focus is on winning and graduating.  Anything extraneous to that is a distraction and will be stamped out or removed.

Strong met individually with seniors and key leaders and re-emphasized that the plan is to win now. They can lead the new culture or be run over by it.

"I don't want to talk about things.  I'd rather do things.  We just talked.  Now it's time to do."

What Ms Kramer and those who share her opinion don't seem to comprehend is that businesses need to make a profit, even if it is negligibly small, or else the business fails and those jobs are lost.

The unfortunate part of that reality is that consumers are either unwilling or unable to overpay for anything. I suspect Ms. Kramer looks for the best bargain she can for everything she buys, rather than happily paying full price just so the local merchants can pay their employees better.

Introduced in 2012 by the NFL's youth development arm, USA Football, and funded entirely by the league, Heads Up is now employed by 2,700 youth leagues.

critics view Heads Up as a cynical marketing ploy -- a repackaging of old terminology to reassure parents at a time the sport is confronting a widening health crisis. Participation in Pop Warner dropped nearly 10 percent between 2010-12, "Outside the Lines" reported last November. According to an HBO Real Sports/Marist poll published last fall, one in three Americans would be less likely to let their child play football because of concussion risks.

NFL and USA Football officials sought to downplay the NFL's role in the program to "Outside the Lines." The league initially referred all questions about Heads Up to USA Football. A USA Football spokesman repeatedly declined requests to provide a copy of a video showing Goodell visiting a Heads Up pilot program in 2012; after finally agreeing, the spokesman explained that one of his concerns is that people would be confused and conflate the NFL's role. Scott Hallenbeck, USA Football's executive director, described Heads Up as "a USA Football program that the NFL has helped fund. It has taken the media a long time to say that accurately."

After serving 10 years as a state prosecutor and 9 years as a criminal defense attorney, I absolutely concur with your assessment.  Traditionally, criminal rape required an element of Force to be proven.  For better & worse, Rape Law reform eradicated the Force element, resulting in Sex Assault & Sex Abuse crimes in most states.  Without the Force element, these cases turn on "He said/She said" evidence regarding verbal consent/non-consent with little corroborating evidence or witnesses to what occurred in the bedroom.  Throw in some alcohol at a party and good luck with what really happened.

I think there is another difference between service academies and other schools that doesn't get mentioned. Let's say the incidence of false rape accusations at a generic college is x% (I won't editorialize about how high or low that might be). Those false accusations have certain motivations, all of which exist at a service academy. But there is an additional motivation to falsely claim rape at a service academy. At most colleges, consensual sex is almost never illicit. At service academies, consensual sex is often illicit, either because of location or the participants (fraternization). And the punishment for this illicit consensual sex is very high (often separation).

This provides an extremely high incentive, when the illicit sex is discovered, to claim that it was not consensual. Therefore, I would guess that false rape claims at SAs are somewhat higher than X%.

And politics being what they are, service  academy administration is highly incentivized to not be too diligent in flushing out false rape claims.

I served in the 2003 invasion of Iraq as a Marine infantry squad leader. We rode into war crammed in the back of amphibious assault vehicles. They are designed to hold roughly 15 Marines snugly; due to maintenance issues, by the end of the invasion we had as many as 25 men stuffed into the back. Marines were forced to sit, in full gear, on each other's laps and in contorted positions for hours on end. That was the least of our problems.

The invasion was a blitzkrieg. The goal was to move as fast to Baghdad as possible. The column would not stop for a lance corporal, sergeant, lieutenant, or even a company commander to go to the restroom. Sometimes we spent over 48 hours on the move without exiting the vehicles. We were forced to urinate in empty water bottles inches from our comrades.

Many Marines developed dysentery from the complete lack of sanitary conditions. When an uncontrollable urge hit a Marine, he would be forced to stand, as best he could, hold an MRE bag up to his rear, and defecate inches from his seated comrade's face.

Yes, a woman is as capable as a man of pulling a trigger. But the goal of our nation's military is to fight and win wars. Before taking the drastic step of allowing women to serve in combat units, has the government considered whether introducing women into the above-described situation would have made my unit more or less combat effective?

Societal norms are a reality, and their maintenance is important to most members of a society. It is humiliating enough to relieve yourself in front of your male comrades; one can only imagine the humiliation of being forced to relieve yourself in front of the opposite sex.

Despite the professionalism of Marines, it would be distracting and potentially traumatizing to be forced to be naked in front of the opposite sex, particularly when your body has been ravaged by lack of hygiene. In the reverse, it would be painful to witness a member of the opposite sex in such an uncomfortable and awkward position. Combat effectiveness is based in large part on unit cohesion. The relationships among members of a unit can be irreparably harmed by forcing them to violate societal norms.

"She also called for a serious exploration of a proposal by UConn Coach Geno Auriemma to lower the rim to 9 or 9 ½ feet from 10 feet. Some purists reject the idea, saying it would suggest that women play a lesser game."

"Some coaches and officials believe the proliferation of tattoos and baggy uniforms has hurt the appeal of the women’s game. Ackerman said some have proposed allowing no new tattoos or no new visible tattoos once players join college teams."

"Some important matters were not explored, like how to address lesbianism more openly."

The mark of a great player isn't how well he performs when things are going well, but the championship traits that he displays when he doesn't have his "A" game. While most focus on physical characteristics when evaluating players, it is the grit, determination and leadership skills that an elite player shows in critical moments that typically translates to success at the next level.

“One of the first things Coach Monken did was go through the locker room, and he saw that it was in disarray (a staple of how little care/pride Ellerson instilled). He asked if there was a locker SOP, which there is. So, he had the equipment staff empty every locker that wasn’t in accordance with that SOP into trash bags, and had those bags put in the visitors locker room, which doesn’t have heat. Those players have to use that locker room until Coach decides they earn the privilege of being back in the home locker room. Discipline, thy name is Monken. I’d be willing to bet we have a much better turnover differential next season.”

Next time some lefty tells you how uninformed Fox News viewers are, remind them of  this:

81: Percentage of young Democrats who approve of the Affordable Care Act, according to December poll by Harvard's Institute of Politics.

58: Percentage of young Democrats who approve of "Obamacare."

Ahem. "Obamacare" and the "Affordable Care Act" are the same thing.

NEW YORK—Admitting that the previous incarnation of its program may have set unrealistically high expectations for the nation’s youth, the NFL unveiled Thursday its newly downscaled “Play 60” campaign, in which the league is encouraging children to be physically active for 60 seconds per week. “In hindsight, hoping that kids would be able to get out there and move around for an entire hour every single day was wildly optimistic, but we’re hoping that a solid minute of motion every week or so is a bit more attainable,” NFL spokesperson Clare Graff said of the more reasonable health and fitness campaign, which urges children to make an effort to engage in such activities as standing, waddling, and holding a “semi-vertical” pose to whatever extent they are capable. “And keep in mind that those 60 seconds don’t all have to come at once. No need to overdo it. You can split it up into five- or 10-second chunks, and you don’t have to start with a full minute at first. Just, you know, try your best.” Graff added that in an effort to spread word about the revised exercise program, the NFL is planning on airing a new Play 60 commercial featuring a group of panting, red-faced children shifting around on a couch with Green Bay Packers defensive tackle B.J. Raji.

“When I made the comment, the bottom half of the SEC was like 0-36 against the top half of the SEC. You realize that? A year ago … nobody talks about that. My point was, don’t say SEC like they’re all doing that (beating everyone). One or two or three top teams … sure, you give them the credit. Alabama … I’ve got the utmost respect for them. Are you kidding me? How could you not? But in the end, don’t talk about the entire conference that way. It’s just not true.

“Hey, I’ve got total respect for Alabama, but you can’t deny what we did last night. Obviously, we can play with anybody, whether it’s the SEC or anyone else. And to say we can’t … well, Alabama’s been rolling the SEC for the last three years and we didn’t seem to be overwhelmed last night. I’m done with that talk.”

As Kelly and his players left the field after a devastating 26-24 loss to New Orleans, fans at Lincoln Financial Field cheered them into the tunnel. When was the last time that happened after an Eagles playoff defeat?

"No matter when, no matter where,

Marathon will take you there…"

Q. There is a woman down the shore (that's a Philly exprression meaning "down at the Jersey Shore" HW)  that sent you a device that you use on the sidelines for signal calling. What were your thoughts immediately when you were looking at it?

COACH KELLY: That this could help us.

Q. You guys are professionals here. You do what you do. So to have someone off the street in a sense, a fan just send you something --

COACH KELLY: Yeah, if they send us something that's going to work, we're going to use it. I think you can learn from any person in this world, and I think if your mind is so closed that you're going to say, ‘We've got all the answers,’ then shame on you. But I opened it. It looked like a good suggestion, so we used it.

Q. Given that you do control your own destiny now --

COACH KELLY: You know you can't control destiny? Destiny is a predetermined set of events, therefore if it's predetermined, you can't control it.

Q. 14 games in, is there anything that surprised you about the difference from the college game to the NFL?

COACH KELLY: No, I had a good understanding of what the league was all about, was prepared for it. I think the difference between the college and the pros is that every single week is a challenge. You can look at some of the games you've played in college and you may hype them up that way. But in the back of your mind, you know what the outcome of the game will be before it's played because there is such a big discrepancy. In this league, there is no discrepancy. You've got to come to play every week. The team that executes the best usually ends up the team that's on top. But in terms of a surprise, nothing that's really come out that's been like, well, I didn't think that was ever going to be that way.

WASHINGTON (AP) — A new study by government scientists says wind energy facilities have killed at least 67 golden and bald eagles in the last five years, but the number could be much higher.

The research represents one of the first tallies of eagle deaths attributed to the nation’s growing wind energy industry. A total of 85 eagles were killed at wind farms since 1997, the study concludes, but most of those occurred in 2008-2012. Most deaths - 79 - were golden eagles.

While the birds are protected by federal law, the Obama administration has yet to file criminal charges against a wind energy company for killing any eagles.