Golden Tate wins Biletnikoff

Golden Tate had another amazing game (3 TDs, 10 catches for 200 yards) but Notre Dame's season fell incomplete at 6-6, with all but two games coming down to the final play. The Halloween game in San Antonio versus Washington State wasn't really a contest and the season opening shutout over Nevada is an indication Charlie can execute a great gameplan, when given more than a few weeks of prep time. The Wolfpack had an NCAA-record THREE 1,000-yard rushers this year. Does Irish AD Jack Swarbrick accept a bowl bid?

Shoppers turned out in droves this weekend looking for bargains in a rough economy. Police had to breakup a fight at Castleton and Greenfield malls. In Muncie, hundreds of Toys-R-Us shoppers waited in their warm cars before rushing the doors right at 5am, cutting everyone in line. Speaking of getting screwed, the Indiana State 5A Championship at Lucas Oil stadium went into a first overtime after the Warriors scored a game tying TD with :01 second remaining. If IHSAA allowed instant replay the catch would have clearly shown the receiver's foot was out of bounds, but the game went on and eventually into double OT before Warren Central outlasted Carmel, 42-36. Speaking of Warren Central... a 26-yr-old substitute teacher has been arrested for sexting a HS student. This is the thousandth reported case of a similar incident in the past few years yet the IndyStar commentors have an uproar over government intrusion issues. She was 16 and the male teacher admitted to having sex with her.

10 years later, Conseco still ahead of the curve

Modern NBA arenas (Charlotte, Ft Worth, San Antonio and Memphis - all cities without a public smoking ban) are modeling themselves after Conseco Fieldhouse. The shrine to Indiana basketball is part-museum, part-temple. USA Today called it "a cathedral to basketball" and Amusement Business Magazine called it "the Camden Yards of Basketball". The structure pays homage to Butler's Hinkle Fieldhouse and features memorabilia spanning decades of high school, collegiate and professional icons such as John Wooden, Oscar Robertson, Bobby Knight, Larry Bird and 3 ABA Championships.

Golden Tate for Heisman

after 10 games...

74 catches for 1,172 yards

14 TDs (2 rushing, 1 punt return)

Tri-State Hoops Preview

Michigan State returns everybody, including Kalin Lucas. Purdue returns everybody, including E'Twaun Moore. The Hoosiers loaded up. Ohio State, Minnesota, Wisconsin and Illinois are all ranked. Louisville's returning backcourt has been to multiple Elite Eights. Calipari has brought the swagger back to Kentucky. As far as mid-majors, Butler is primed for a big season. Dayton, Xavier and Notre Dame are also hoping to be dancing. Note to Syracuse, Duke, Kansas or any other teams outside 150 miles that are Final Four-bound: there's still a good chance of hotel vacancy.

LXiX

69 has always been a special number for me. Not only is the § symbol a slight deviance from 69, it's also the shape of our (spiral) galaxy. It represents duelness, liquidated Karma, and the zodiac sign for Cancer. Some say its a symbol of Yin&Yang. Billy Madison lolz when Miss Veronica Vaughn asks the class to "turn to page 69", but I wont get into that. Apostle St. Peter, whom I was named after and was also the first Pope, died in 69 AD. Then there's The Summer of '69. Room temperature? 69°. When I was in 6th grade, REM's song "Star-69" was on the radio. There are 6.9 billion people on Earth. I was born at Community North off Interstate 69. I attended Skiles Test Elementary which is located precisely 1 block north of Indianapolis' address grid: 69 Block North, 69 Block East. Odd, right?

Using Google Maps, I put markers on all major landmarks of my life and then noticed a strong northeastern pattern. I mapped a straight line (called "Life Path") from Bloomington to the exact middle of this conglomerate of landmarks and discovered that I'm going to hell. Well, at least Purgatory, which is (wait for it...) 69 miles from Bloomington!

** Points of interest directly under this imaginary line: Indiana University, Victory Field, State Capitol building, Benjamin Harrison's Home, MLK Memorial Park, Indiana State Fairgrounds, Castleton Mall, Allisonville Rd, River Glen CC, Connor Prairie and Noblesville's Retail District (Hare Chevrolet & Kahlo Jeep) at SR-37/32/38. 

Tanker Explosion at I-69 Exit 0

ESO Discovers New Planets

The European Southern Observatory has announced the discovery of hundreds of exoplanets in our galaxy. The Geneva Convention created the High Accuracy Radial Velocity Planet Searcher, or HARPS, a mega-telescope located in Chile. The radial velocity method detects small 'wiggles' by stars, which give clues to existence of exoplanets' gravity. Dozens of these planets are known to exist in multiplanet systems and are over 5x larger than our Earth.

2012 - The End of Times?

At 11:11am on December 21, 2012 our planet will be another 13 Bak'tuns older (or 69k moons*), which you may have heard is the END of the WORLD. Actually it's just the end of the Mayan calender; the last 'birthday' was 3114 BC. Click those links to discover how exact Mayans were with star alignment and physical cycles...

But the most significant fact is that for the first time in 26,000 years (a Great Year) our Sun will pass through the galactic equator of the Milky Way, meaning a great source of energy could be disrupted.

Perhaps a solar flare will simply wipe out all our satellites? Maybe earthquakes, volcanic eruption, giant meteors and tidal flooding? (notice the black Prez... lame duck?)

If you think that's scary, try this on for size: a reverse in magnetic poles - that hasn't happened in 740,000 years (and we're overdue by 240,000 years) Your compass will point South instead of North? Check.

 Cataclysmicly devastating events? Check. Laws of physics will vanish? Well, we won't know until then (our magnets will get weaker gradually), but I'm hoping we pass through a Black Hole and we finally get new neighbors, because Mars is so annoying!

*Fun Fact: a moon cycle is a Tun-Uc, a 28-day cycle that breaks the moon into 4 phases that we call a "week". Booyah!

NFL Defenses Power Rankings

1. Baltimore - Ed Reed and Ray Lewis... need I say more?
2. NYJ - new DC Mike Pettine (former Ravens LB Coach) allowing only 9 ppg
3. NYG - has recorded only 3 sacks so far, but plenty of playmakers and championship experience
4. Philly - league-leading 9 takeaways and 10 sacks; lots of points given up but they have DeSean Jackson returning punts
5. Minnesota - Jared Allen & Co are hitting on all cylinders (ground-breaking journalism!)
6. Pittsburgh - DPoY Harrison & Co are missing Troy Polamalu's drive-stopping ability
7. Denver - under 6 ppg allowed thus far, albeit vs JaMarcus Russell and Brady Quinn
8. Chicago - Brian Urlacher out for the season, but they've rallied and will not break
9. Indy - the #1 DE combo and loads of talent in the secondary, but major weakness at LB
10. Tennessee - 71 points allowed in just 3 games has the divisional favorite winless thus far

11. Green Bay
12. Seattle
13. New England
14. San Diego
15. Miami
16. San Fran
17. Dallas
18. Carolina
19. Cincy
20. New Orleans
21. Buffalo
22. ATL
23. Oakland
24. Arizona
25. Tampa Bay
26. Washington
27. Jacksonville
28. Detroit
29. Houston
30. St Louis
31. Kansas City
32. Cleveland

NFL Week 3 odds

Games I'm staying away from:

Cleveland +13½ @ Baltimore

Chicago -2½ @ Seattle

Atlanta +4 @ New England

Games I'm taking but don't love:

Dallas -9½ vs Carolina

San Francisco +7 @ Minnesota

NY Jets -3 vs Tennessee

Houston -4 vs Jacksonville

Green Bay -7 @ St Louis

Games I like a lot:

NY Giants -7 @ Tampa Bay

Detroit +6½ vs Washington

New Orleans -6 @ Buffalo

Pittsburgh -4½ @ Cincinnati

Oakland +1½ vs Denver

Games with lines unannounced:

Indianapolis @ Arizona

Miami @ San Diego

Kansas City @ Philadelphia

Autumnal Equinox

Charlie Weis gets to keep his job another week as Notre Dame barely escaped consecutive last-minute meltdowns from an inferior BigTen Michigan team. The Irish head to Purdue this Saturday after the (1-2) Boilers recently lost to Northern Illinois of the MAC.

The football Hoosiers are still undefeated after rolling over Akron in the 2nd half, 38-21. This is the 3rd time in 5 years IU has started 3-0. Should they beat Michigan Saturday, it would mark the first 4-0 start since 1990. But IU hasn't won at the Big House since 1967 (our last Rose Bowl) and has just a lone victory in the past 31 meetings with the Wolverines.

The Colts return to Miami's LandShark Stadium for the first time since winning SB XLi. Peyton Manning and the Colts will hopefully be back in February for SB XLiV, possibly en route to winning a 4th MVP and solidifying himself as the greatest ever. Since 1999, the Colts have the most regular-season wins (115, the Patriots have 111) and they also have the best win percentage on Monday Nights (.750 in 12 games). After tonight's game, they have another primetime matchup on Sunday on NBC vs the NFC champion Arizona Cardinals. Kurt Warner just set an NFL record with the best completion percentage (92.3%) in a single game. Rookie CBs Jerraud Powers and Jacob Lacey will likely have their hands full with Larry Fitzgerald, Anquan Boldin and Steve Breaston.

Colts claim rookie LB Cody Glenn off waivers

Colts claimed rookie LB Cody Gleen off waivers (via Redskins) and released 4-yr veteran S Matt Giordano. This could be good news regarding the injury status of Bob Sanders, who was recently taken off the PUP list. Either the Colts are confident that #21 will be healthy enough to play, or they really like Cody Glenn. They apparently didn't covet him enough to draft him with either of their two 4th round picks, one of which was used on defensive tackle Terrance Taylor, whom did not make the final 53-man roster.

Cody Glenn actually entered college as RB, but eventually won the starting weak-side linebacker position for Nebraska last year. Although he has very little experience on defense, he has played both OLB and ILB spots. Glenn has prototypical size for a Colts linebacker (basically a slightly bulky safety) at 6' 0", 244 lbs, and he ran a respectable 4.67 40-yard dash at his pro day workout.

Once Ed Johnson's one-week suspension has been served, the Colts will have to release another player. My guess is they'll release backup K Shane Andrus or one of the two backup QBs, Jim Sorgi or Curtis Painter.

Speaking of suspension, Cody was held out of 2 games last year for "violating team rules" which was rumored to be him selling his game-issued tix, but ESPN has reported that was false.

Update #1: Colts just claimed S Aaron Francisco from the NFC champion Arizona Cardinals

Update #2: Colts just waived Cody Glenn. Awesome.

Update #3: Cody Glenn placed on practice squad. Riveting, I know!