Jesus Loves the Little Children... He Doesn't Love Sports!

First I want to make it very clear that I do not HATE BYU nor do I think that God hates BYU or any other religious instituion as a school. I just think that God, Jesus, Allah, Mohammed, Buddha, Confucius and any other religious deity I forgot hates sports as a whole. How do I know this you might ask? I've been praying for touchdowns since 1989. The Dallas Cowboys went 1-15 that year and haven't won anything of consequence since 1995. I rest my case. Notre Dame fans there's a reason why the "Touchdown Jesus" mural was destroyed by fire and lightning in Ohio.

BYU this summer has tried its hardest to not only get out of the Mountain West Conference but to go independent in football. This of course mainly stems from the University of Utah being asked to join the current Pac-10 soon to be Pacific 12 with Colorado and Utah joining the group.

About the time I started to follow the rivalry in 1996 BYU hasn't gotten the respect and love that it deserves. Why you might ask again? It is because as BYU fans, students, church members, etc. have not represented the school in the way that God would want you to. The same can be said of Notre Dame, TCU, St. Johns, Xavier, and any other religiously tied school or university. However, unlike all of those schools BYU is set to a higher standard. LDS church members you know what I am talking about!

Yes I get that in Salt Lake City Bronco Mendenhall's and Max Hall's family was abused to say the least by Utah fans. That's not right either, but what do you expect from a school that has liberal arts majors, people who voted for Barrack Obama, allows beer at all games, and allows athletes to graduate and move on and they can't throw the football very well, i.e. Scott Mitchell.

BYU fans retaliated last year in Provo, not just because they won the event, but because they all thought that we were living in Biblical times and the Law of Moses was still in effect. "...some BYU fan allegedly hit Jamie Whittingham, Kyle's wife, in the lip and someone else reportedly sucker punched his son, Tyler, in the massive assembly of bodies on the field afterward." Now of course this is all he said she said, I don't really care. If any religion class at BYU has sunk in this is what they should have been thinking.

John 13: 34-35
34 A new commandment I give unto you, That ye ^alove one another; as I have loved you, that ye also ^blove one another.

35 By this shall all men know that ye are my disciples, if ye have ^alove one to another

One thing that I failed to mention about BYU is that I know all of the fans of this beloved school are not members. I get that but just like you would in church you should behave appropriately. Some of you if you made it this far are probably now saying, "Nate, you're right but Utah fans should be held to the same standard!" You're right! They should be held to the same standard, when they're sober! You can't expect Utah fans who drink, are stupid, physically and mentally impaired after drinking, and not church members for the most part to be the same way. Those are the idiots I probably worked with those early mornings who aren't students and probably stole tickets to get into the game. The same can be said of the BYU fans. There will always be those that disrupt the game. Here's the solution!

The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints should no longer promote collegiate sports, have organized church sports, etc. No where in the world have I seen a slogan that says, "Church sports, The Brawl that starts with a prayer." Do you think God brawls! While there is no real solution to this problem for now I would say let's kill the rivalry. Neither school is going to lose fans because there isn't a game between the two schools than start a rivalry with Utah State. They need the press.

As far as BYU going independent, I still think it is a good idea, in fact if they can get it done next season after the WAC fallout is over then that would be the way to go. Do it when the changes actually take effect.

As for BYU this season the only thing I can say about BYU is that I hope that QB situation gets worked out because unless their helmet has a gator on it I don't see a two QB system working well for any team.

Short and Sweet

The real post will come when I can think up a good topic. In the mean time can I just tell you how much I have missed football season! Thank goodness it is almost that time! If any of you who may or may not frequent this blog would like to play fantasy football just send me a message?

The real blog cometh later.

Surpise Me NOT!

If you were surprised to learn that Brett Favre was coming back for an unheard of 20th NFL season in the modern football era 1990-Present you've been under a rock or something! Does anyone remember the last blog? Let's look at the time table again shall we.

Let's start with this time the previous pre-season. I needed more plutonium for my flux capacitor so we'll have to really use our brains this time.

2009
1. After sabotaging the Jets playoff hopes with his usual antics he called it quits again. He also wanted to go to Minnesota and the only way to do that was retire again.

2. Then in July 2009, Favre started texting coaches and players about how he was not going to give it another run and stay retired.

3. Around this time last year Brett Favre was on the practice field. He just didn't want to go to camp.

Let's go to the present now.

Favre had more or less announced he was going to retire due to the lack of mobility on his surgically repaired ankle. Then his coach Brad Childress goes down to Mississippi to see where he is at. At that time yours truly explains that he does not want to go to training camp. Then on Monday (8/16/10), Ryan Longwell, Steve Hutchinson, and Jared Allen, his three closest friends on the team, unexpectedly arrived at his doorstep on Monday night. Wednesday he's back with the team and wants to play against the 49ers this weekend. This is more like a man favor to me. This is almost like saying hey, "I'm moving this weekend can you help me move the couch?" This is why those guys went down to see him and they realize they aren't going to get that close with the quarterback roster they had before Favre came back.

Well at the very least he joins a list of people that are considered old by football standards and as of last year were still playing.

As of the 2009 NFL season, there were seven active players in the NFL over the age of 40 including Favre:

Jeff Carney, 2009 New Orleans Saints, born April 20, 1964
Jeff Feagles, 2009 New York Giants, born March 7, 1966
Matt Stover, 2009 Indianapolis Colts, born January 27, 1968
Matt Turk, 2009 Houston Texans, born June 16, 1968
Brett Favre, 2009 Minnesota Vikings, born October 10, 1969
John Kasay, 2009 Carolina Panthers, born October 27, 1969
Junior Seau, 2009 New England Patriots, born January 19, 1969

For the complete listing of old guys as of 2009 who were the oldest to play you can look here.

Moving onto a first in my blogging history a double story. You might say that you got two for the price of one, however, since this blog costs nothing, well you might also think you got nothing out of it. So I would like to think that you got nothing for nothing and you are no worse off than you were before.

Anyhow...

The Major League Baseball races continue to be very close. Let's take a look shall we. Let's start with the American League Eastern Division.

Here are the standings as of 6:24 EST or while I was writing this blog if you want to get technical.

New York Yankees	75	46	.620	--	40-21	35-25	26-18	21-12
Tampa Bay Rays	74	47	.612	1.0	39-24	35-23	29-18	24-11
Boston Red Sox	69	53	.566	6.5	36-24	33-29	24-24	14-12

This is pretty much a two pony race. The Yankees who have the best pitching by far for the playoffs in Andy Pettitte, AJ Burnett, CC Sabathia, Mariano Rivera and then the addition of Kerry Wood to eat up bullpen innings. However, I watched something that the Rays did that I thought I would never see and that was carve up Rangers pitcher Cliff Lee last week. Plus the Rays are hitting .253 and have an On Base Percentage of .338. Carl Crawford is hitting .301 while Evan Longoria has 81 RBI and is hitting .295. If I had to pick this one I would still go with the Yankees in the AL East. The playoffs will be great this year. Oh, and if you were wondering about the Red Sox well they are 6 1/2 back in this race and 5 1/2 back in the wild-card race.





Moving onto the American League Central Division.

Minnesota Twins	70	51	.579	--	38-21	32-30	14-18	33-18
Chicago White Sox	66	55	.545	4.0	35-24	31-31	8-14	23-27

I didn't really have the heart to include the Detroit Tigers with football season on its way and we all know how that usually goes for the city. If you must know the Tigers are 12 games back and no shot at the wild card. The Twins on the other were once tied in this race and have pulled ahead quite nicely. Now if you were to base the entire season on last night's performance than well they stink. The White Sox shut out the Twinkies 11-0. Yet I am still optimistic about the Twins. In the last two weeks of the season the Twins play Kansas City, Toronto, Cleveland and the Oakland A's. All teams under .500. Joe Mauer has hit fairly well while Carl Pavano has quietly been the best pitcher on the team in wins with 15. Francisco Liriano has also been great with 165 strikeouts and 11 wins of his own. Although the White Sox could still make a late charge. Paul Konerko leads the Sox in batting at .308, RBI with 85, and home runs with 31. They have other power spots in the lineup from Alex Rios, Andruw Jones, and Carlos Quentin. I just don't think the pitching rotation though is going to be enough without Jake Peavy who had to shut it down for the year.



In the American League West...

Texas Rangers	67	53	.558	--	39-23	28-30	12-22	18-13
Oakland Athletics	60	60	.500	7.0	37-25	23-35	17-18	16-14
Los Angeles Angels	61	61	.500	7.0	33-27	28-34	12-21	16-17

The Rangers pretty much have this locked up if they don't pull their usual franchise cursed crap at the end. Josh Hamilton has played so well he should be the MVP of the American League. Even if the Rangers end up blowing it like in years past he has hit .353 with 26 Home runs. The off-season acquisition of Vladimir Guerrero has been great as well he has hit 87 RBI and is hitting .299. CJ Wilson and Cliff Lee have been doing well on the pitching side. Wilson with 11 wins and an ERA of 3.19 while Lee has 10 wins on the season including his time in Seattle and an ERA of 2.77. What the Rangers will need is for Cliff Lee to continue to play well and for Ian Kinsler and Nelson Cruz to come off the disabled list for the stretch run.

Since Brett Favre took much of my energy out of me I'll wait for the National League until next week. I want to see if the Phillies, Cardinals, and Giants can actually get closer in their respective divisions. If they can't make it in their divisions how's this for a race... I'll leave you with this little gem!

Philadelphia 68 52 .567 - - 7-3 L1 San Francisco 68 54 .557 1.0 41 5-5 W1 St. Louis 65 53 .551 2.0 42 5-5 L4

The American League race stinks so here it is to be fair.

Tampa Bay	74	47	.612	-	-	7-3	L1
Boston	69	53	.566	5.5	36	6-4	L1
Chi White Sox	66	55	.545	8.0	34	3-7	W1

By the way for the technical people with nothing better to do it got posted at around 8 EST.

Say It Ain't So, I Will Not Go

This is what I had to say about Brett Favre the last time I personally thought he was going to retire.

Earlier today Brett Favre of the Green Bay Packers called it a career. After 17 seasons of playing football I am of the opinion that it is about time. Say what you want about Brett Favre, he holds the all-time touchdown passing record 442 to be exact, all-time record 61,655 yards passing, and of course the consecutive game streak makes Cal Ripken look like Jan Brady with 255 straight appearances and starts for his career. Let us not dwell on the fact that his last throw at his home field was throwing an interception, or that in both 2005 and 2006 he probably hurt his team more than he helped them. Also let us remember that he was never Tom Brady who is mostly perfect, but Brett Favre was the hardest worker and the last one to leave. He did what football players should do stay out of the way and did his job. Let's remember him for the Super Bowl 31 win as well as his ability to never give up. Even though he somewhat arrogantly held his team hostage every year you cannot diminish his accomplishments. Congratualations to the Greatest Packer of all-time and definately one of the greatest Quarterbacks of all time. On a personal note even though he was 2-9 in the city of Dallas, let's also remember that he did win a SuperBowl unlike Dan Marino and Jim Kelly who were part of the same class of quarterbacks that Favre will undoubtedly be bunched with for this era. Packers general manager Ted Thompson thanked Favre for 16 years of wonderful memories with the team. (Associated Press)

Read more: http://www.myspace.com/natesoules/blog#ixzz0vZ3Nq9wZ

A clip from the 2007 NFC Championship.

Boy was I wrong!

Now all of you are thinking that as it has been reported thus far that Favre is going to "FINALLY" retire. According to him it is because his ankle hasn't gotten better. Is this really going to be it for #4 in your program but #1 in your heart Brett Favre? Well lets hold the phone for one moment. Let's go back in my DeLorean to this time last year shall we.
1. Supposedly retired in March 2008 from the Packers.

2. Then after essentially sabotaging the Jets playoff hopes with his usual antics he called it quits again. He also wanted to go to Minnesota and the only way to do that was retire again.

3. Then in July 2009, Favre started texting coaches and players about how he was not going to give it another run and stay retired.

4. Around this time last year Brett Favre was on the practice field. He just didn't want to go to camp.

Does anyone see a trend here?

Clearly the man just wants to not go to camp! Hey I don't blame him. More than a month of eating bad food, not seeing your family, and sleeping in a dorm room when you're a millionaire. For Favre it also meant no shooting, hunting, ranching, fishing, bailing hay, and being a hillbilly for the rest of the summer.

I have of course considered that this retirement is sincere. Since I don't care either way let's just say for a moment this is sincere. Well as you can see below he'll have this to think about along with the video above for the rest of his life if that is the case.




I have also considered after I watched this video that Favre doesn't want to go through this kind of pain again. While it was an ill conceived pass to end regulation I'm sure the play had the best of intentions. I can see why he has to live down in Mississippi where there isn't an NFL team around even so that way he doesn't have to live around people who will see him and their first thought be, "Hey ain't you the one that threw that there ball to the Saints guy."

I was not always a fan of this guy and I'm not really one now. If this is really it for him than the numbers speak for themselves in his career. Pretty much number 1 in every category even the one that I'm sure his fans and him dread.

Career Numbers
Passing yards: 69329
Career Starts: 285 straight
Passing Touchdowns: 497
Completions: 6083
Completion Percentage: 62%
Interceptions: 317


As I said about three years ago the man did his job. Even though he arrogantly held his team hostage each of the last three years he at least improved them. On a personal note, if this is really it for #4, the Cowboys just got a win added to their schedule which by my prediction for them that would make them 12-4. With losses to the Giants, Packers, Colts, and Saints.


*Brett Favre photo (AP Photo/Rogelio V. Solis)