Lions Winning Ways and New Fears to the New Year

By the time, the Detroit Lions started to lose is when I became interested in the opposite sex. With that said, I have had picture being with a lovely lady on New Year's Eve way before the Lions win three games in a row. As the Lions won their third game in a row this past Sunday, and here I am not with a lady, but plotting what to do New Year's Eve. Should I stay home, try to find some friends and go out, or brave dealing drunken buffoons by myself. Either way I happy the Lions are finding success and I guess better late than never. There are issues the Lions will face between now and the start of the new season.

1.) Lack of CBA: As it stands today, there is no Collective Bargaining Agreement between owners and players. And if there is not an agreement in place by early March; players will be lockout of their place of work. And for the Lions that is not good if they want to get better.
2.) Uncertainty of the quarterback position: With Matthew Stafford being constantly injurer and with back-ups: Drew Stanton and Shaun Hill equaling each other out. There is no way Lions can make progress if there is not a quarterback who can constantly play.
3.) Drafting: Which side of the ball the Lions should draft first: offense or defense? I said defense, as the offense is set and only will get better with time and the defense lack depth especially in the secondary.

I can be follow on twitter @decincesryan

Lessons from Alabama

During Christmas My family and I went to a small town called Atmore, Alabama, which it sits between Mobile, Alabama and Pensacola, Florida. I had learn so many things in the town, and I want others to learn these things too.


1.) Smart phones, especially use for business is not a good idea to have in Atmore outside of the casino in town.
2.) In fact, expect inconsistent coverage with all phones down there.
3.) Be prepare to move around for shopping trips, as Atmore do not have a lot of stores and usually super slow on Sundays.
4.) Enjoy both family (if you have any in town) and the stars in the sky (if there are any) as they are both fun and cool.
5.) Creativity counts, and making your own entertainment is one the best ways to make your trip to Atmore, Alabama truly count.
See any small town can be fun, you just need some wits, creativity and family and that is very important. I hope everyone enjoy their Christmas and will have a Happy New Year's Eve.

Letter to Soulja Boy

For those who do not know what is going on.


Dear Soulja Boy,

You do not know me, or I do not know you. With that said, I do not have any issues with your musical tastes. I respect someone who put unknown regional musicians ahead of highly known national or international musicians. Especially since, I know people with different musical taste that might be questionable to others; that is no big deal to me. The only issue I have with your Top 25 albums of all time on Complex.com, is your language. Serious question, does every other word that comes out of your mouth have to be "sh*t" and "n*gga" on giving reasons why an album is on your list; especially in an interview.What if a CEO of an company want you to market their product to consumers, but have no idea who you really are, outside of music you had produced and the interviews like the one you did for complex.com. I know you are going to use different words when it involves receiving money from companies, but still you need to chill out with language in a professional setting, especially in an interview, because you do not know who could be reading the transcripts or listening to the audio.

Sincerely,

Spartan Technician

Five Reasons to Fire Rich Rodriguez

Here is part 1 of the Rich Rod saga.

5.) Cultural Misunderstanding- While I and many University of Michigan's alumni was pleased for the Michigan's outside the box thinking for hiring Rodriguez, but the lack of cultural understanding from admission standards to high athletic standards like winning ten football games at least every year, is making hard for Rodriguez to stay.

4.) Lack of Accountability- Talk about the ability to pass blame to others, this guy does it better than anyone else on earth. Sadly, this does not stand with anyone with association at University of Michigan.

3.) Poor Defense- There is one thing to have a bad year defensively, but to be bad three years in a row, that is not acceptable in Michigan football or football in general. It is even more unacceptable to bring a 3-3-5 defense to the Big Ten Conference and not expect to pay the consequences of said actions. 

2.) Making rivals feeling sorry for the team- It is a sign to get rid of someone who is hurting your team's respect in the world when rivals are feeling sorry for your fall in the pecking order of teams in a conference.

1.) Embarrassment- Richard Rodriguez is an embarrassment to the University of Michigan and himself that is the number one reason why the University of Michigan should fire him.

Five Reasons to Keep Rich Rod at U of M

As a Michigan State alum and fan, I want Richard Rodriguez to coach football at the University of Michigan as long as possible at any cost, but I am going to do an objective case on why he should not be fire from U of M.

5.) Comedy- Every major college football program has to have those "how in the world they became head football coach at my school" and yes, it is Michigan's time to go through these cycles. Also it is funny to hear him speak and seeing the fighting between Wal-Mart fans and Alum of U of M on Rich Rodriguez.

4.) Keeping Denard Robinson in the quarterback position- If you see all the Big Ten games so far and carefully watch him play, you can easily argue this guy cannot really play quarterback that well. The only redeeming quality about Robinson is that he playing in a system where he can use his athletic skills for his benefit, any other system he would be looking at a position change or transferring to some other school.

3.) Money- With a four million buy-out to relieve Rodriguez of his coaching duties and the major donors are close to being tap-out of funding the remodeling of Michigan Stadium. I do not see him leaving anytime soon.

2.) Slowly, Improving Record-Wise- Going from 3 wins in the first year of Rodriguez's tenure to 7 wins is saying a lot, in terms of improvement. 

1.) Offense- It gets fans excited to see this offense fully functional and in the world of college football that is great. Especially getting more money and interest to the school has helped benefit U of M in quickly repaying for the remodeling project.

Click here for Part 2. 

How Many Teams

'Too many MC's not enough Mic's.' Praz's verse on the Fugees "How Many Mics"is the perfect theme to this year football season for both college and the NFL. While Praz was rapping about how hip-hop have too many rappers claiming to the "Best on the Mic" title; the same thing can be said about the best team title of the season. In college football where there are four teams undefeated (Oregon, Auburn, Boise State and TCU) as of today can reasonably claim they are the best team in the nation, at the same time there are counterclaims saying each team are not the best team in the nation. It might be because either lack of a great win, poor defense, or the whole one player making a difference each are good reasons for this debate.

Meanwhile, in the NFL there are eight teams with six wins and each team has some type of flaw against them. The only positive thing about the NFL is the all eight teams have a chance to win the championship compare to college football, which only two teams have a chance to be National Champions. I could tell that Pittsburgh (6-2 as of today) is the best team in the NFL right now, but someone else could say it is Atlanta (7-2 as of today), either way it will be settling on the field. You could both college and professional best teams are going to be decided on the field, which it is better than hip-hop's idea for number one rapper in the game.

Conflict in Interest?

Ever since this past Tuesday when I heard Wayne Rooney wanted out of Manchester United the world's top soccer clubs; I feel conflicted over he should leave or not. I understand if he sees the club not really improving its standing in the world, but I cannot understand why he would leave a place that loves him more than anything else in the world. Unbelievably this man have been protected more fiercely than any other soccer superstar who ever wore the Manchester United uniform including Christiano Ronaldo and David Beckham. While the money he will be getting is greater than he ever imaged if he leaves for a club willing to pay him the high salary he tends to require. With the high pay raise comes huge responsibility to the club he chooses to be with and would be able to live to the expectations of the new contract. Would it change the way I cheer for a soccer club or change the way I cheer for a man I really despises.

The reason why I do not like Manchester United, because they are the perfect foil to my two favorite clubs in their quest to win big time championships in Europe, which are Chelsea and Barcelona. The only man on Man U's roster who can be a pain is Wayne Rooney the reason why I hate him and the club. I remember jumping for glee after he turned his ankle against Bayern Munich in last season's Champions League quarter-finals. Cried there is no God after hearing about his sex scandal. While I was happy about his no show at this past World Cup and his mild disappearing act so far this season, I am afraid what might happened in the January transfer period.

As it stands now, Rooney is still with Manchester United with time it could change. According to an ESPN.com article on his future, some clubs in within his sights are Manchester City, Chelsea and Barcelona. The conflict is do I continue cheering the clubs love despite the fact the player I hate the most, could be on their respected clubs or do I let one player end the love affair I have with them. I hope he stays with Manchester United, because it will be hard to hate the club if he is gone.     

September and Baseball

Why is September bad for baseball? Sure, football season this time of year; but there has to be more than just football starting for people stop caring about baseball this time of year. First of all, the baseball season is about 10 to 15 games too long depending on who is talking, and Major League Baseball does not give people an incentive to watch it in September and very little in October. Outside the races that are happening in almost every division with the mild exception of the American League West right now, and the very good Wild Card races in each league, people have no true reason to watch baseball this time of year. The diagnosis is easy to find for baseball’s aching problem and the bad teams are the cause.

The problem is the bottom tier teams like the Kansas City Royals, Pittsburg Pirates and the Washington Nationals are not helping things out to solve this problem. Thanks to roster call-ups (known as the September add-ons), these teams can send up minor league talent to the majors and charge major league ticket prices to fans. With little of consequence to these teams, they can rake in all the cash they can, and let the teams lose, as it creates a false hope for the following season to the fans that paid money to see a baseball game. While this is a sad fact, but until Major League Baseball decides to fix the problem and force consequences to teams who continue to do this, bad baseball is all we got as consumers. There are no easy solutions to solve the problem, but there has to be a solution to a problem like this one.


College Football Preview

College football season will be here less than a week. It is time to have hope, dreams, and make predictions on how this crazy college football season will come to an end. The teams will be look at Michigan, Michigan State and teams of national interest. A nice twist each team will have a theme song or album that will go with the season they will have.
Michigan: (Theme song or album for the year: Get Rich or Die Trying by 50 Cent) Both University of Michigan and 50 Cent have in common is they are key players in their respected industries. Unlike 50 who are still having good times with success; Michigan is a having a hard time getting respect. It is so bad that some people in the Ohio State higher up thought about the unthinkable. Unfortunately before we could even think about that Rich Rodriguez have bigger problems like a new AD and he is not please on how the football is going. Many said Michigan needs to win 7 games, but I see them winning 6 games this season.
Michigan State: (Theme song: Ain't No Stopping Us Now by McFadden and Whitehead) As a graduate of this fine school, I should know better than giving high hopes to this football team. After all they often fail to meet expectations when they are high. With key players like Kirk Cousins, and Greg Jones returning and the fact there is no Ohio State on the schedule I can see this team winning 9 games, but they will win 8 games and go to a nice bowl game.
Alabama: (Born to Run by Bruce Springsteen) Good news for Alabama is they get Heisman Award Winner Mark Ingram is retuning, bad news is the defense will have nine new starters for the season. Even worse the SEC West is tougher than last year. Can they win the division and conference yes, but not winning the National Championship again. Win total: 10 games.
Ohio State: (I'm Your Captain by Grand Funk Railroad) The Buckeyes will be challenge by Penn St and Iowa but that is it for Big Ten challengers, and they are high enough to leap frog teams ahead of them to make to the National Championship game. Win total: 11 games.
Boise State and TCU: (Statues by The Foo Fighters) These two non-qualifying BCS teams might always seek respect, but I think they are already got some respect from voters to placed them high in the preseason polls. Assuming they can get through their toughest games of the season, a BCS berth is very likely. Win totals: 11 for Boise and 12 for TCU.

Reasons for Pre-Season Football

I was watching pre-season football games this past weekend and I felt like this at the end of each game. Why does the NFL need pre-season games? Well, back in the days of Dick Butkus, Deacon Jones, and Jack Youngblood players needed a second job during the off season to supplement themselves and their families since owners did not have to paid players during the off-season. As a result, most players came into training camp out of shape and needed the pre-season games to get into game shape for the regular season. Luckily, for today's players, owners do paid players during the off-season and earn so much more today; thanks to football being more popular than baseball today. Thanks to this change in football culture, players now can focus on football and staying in shape. So why do we need pre-season games now, since most players only a played a quarter of the game if that much. Players, coaches, and fan all have reasons to keep pre-season games around even if it is only two, four or six games.

Players: Have you ever spent time in a classroom doing those boring repetitive drills everyday? Well players have those same issues too, and the game are a perfect way to get away from those boring drills. Another reason why players still need those games is thank to OTAs (Off-season Training Activities), training camps are now boring and equally frustrating since they can only hit each other, and with games play they can hit someone who is not wearing the same color uniform as them. Even worst during training camp, defense cannot hit these guys.  Thanks to game time, it is open season on quarterbacks.

Coaches: Injuries are a part of football, players get hurt at anytime they are on the field. The pre-season is the perfect time to find out which players who are at the bottom of the pecking order (rookies who are drafted by their respected team in the 4th round to rookie free agents) can play in a game. In addition, coaches are like teachers who are tired of teaching the same repetitive drills to players and the games are a nice distraction for them too.

Fans: We as fans every often get bored during the off-season and especially during the summer time where the only sport on television is baseball. Even if it only the pre-season, it is a nice way to take a break from boredom and get excited for the regular season. Good news is only two more weeks before the start of the regular season, so hang in there folks.

Truth about Job Search Sites.

Job search sites are like dating sites, finding the person or job you might love are hard to get on these sites. Most likely, employers would not post their openings on sites like monster.com or careerbuilder.com because of the consequences of such decisions. According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics report for July 2010 the ratio of unemployed workers to job openings is 4.67 to 1, yes a ration of almost 5 to 1. Any experience hiring manager would not dare to go through hundreds of resumes and cover letters from the unemployed to working people trying to find a different job, just to find a small handful of worthy candidates, they rather pick people they know; either by family, friends or co-workers' friends and family. While this is bad news, but this is some hope I think, but you have to know what kind of poster you are dealing with.

There are three kinds of job posters on job search sites, and this is why I said job search sites are like dating sites because they will at the same way.

My Friend (co-worker or boss) dared me to this: Usually when a hiring manager in this position post a job opening through these sites tend to give little information as they can. They do not want job seekers to send resumes and force them to view the resumes, and they viewed this task of posting an opening on a job search site as a threat to their ability to find talent without the use of the internet.

I found someone for the job, but I going to keep the post up: I called this the cruel posting, as the hiring manager already found someone for the job. I do not know why they do this either to make fun of those who waste time sending resumes and calling or seeking to keep their options open just in case the one they found do not work so well.

I need someone, any one will do: These hiring managers often work in marketing, insurance, or sales companies, any job that requires the ability to sell goods or services people do not really need or want. The problem with these jobs is that often a large percentage of pay is performance base (e.g large commission and bonuses) and the natural talent pool for these positions are small. And sadly, most positions in this category want people to call this their career choice, and most searchers do not want to spend 20 years selling things.

My advice is to avoid these pit falls, is to go out talk to friends call the employer who posted the opening to get more information on the job or company, or send a letter of interest. This way you do not have to ache to see employers view you worthy of an interview. I wish the best of luck to everyone who is looking for a job.

The 600 Billion Blog in the World

This blog will be at the highest standards possible in the blogger sphere. There will not be any cheap tricks, lies, or pretending to know people who have inside knowledge of any subject, in which I would love to write about. The subjects in this blog will be on sports, politics, music, entertainment and life in general. It will be research done in this blog before posting. This way no one cannot challenge the accuracy of the sources used, but only the arguments which are written. A little bit about myself if you do not mind reading.


I am a recent graduate (class of 2009) of Michigan State University with a Bachelor of Arts degree in History. I appear to be smart, funny and good looking by people of my peers to that fact I respect their opinion of me. Again, I have no known contacts in sports, politics or entertainment, thus everything will be research as I grasp knowledge of these areas. One day, I would love to fix some of the world's easiest problems like college football's bowl system. So there people, this not a blog in which I pretend to be some hot-shot who knows everyone or trying to save the world, just an average twenty something person trying to have fun in life.