No Dodging This One

Catholics attending Mass on Sunday, Jan. 29, got the news directly from the pulpit that the US Conference of Catholic Bishops has grave reservations regarding certain provisions of the Affordable Care Act (“Obamacare”). Regulations implementing the law require employers to include coverage of sterilization and contraception services in health insurance plans offered to their employees. The Church teaches that sterilization and contraception are sinful and wrong. Thus, the Bishops have said that Church institutions cannot and will not comply with the law.

An unequivocal line has been drawn. And Catholics will have to choose one side or another.

Many Catholics will probably tell you that, despite Church prohibitions, they have no problem with contraception or sterilization (abortion is a different story). But the Church has always recognized the primacy of individual conscience, so to a certain extent, one can disagree with Church teaching yet still be Catholic. In the present situation, however, one’s personal views toward contraception and sterilization are not the real issue. At issue is the fact that the US government is requiring a religious institution to provide access to, and financially support the utilization of medical services that directly conflict with its core beliefs.

If the government and the Church both stand their ground, institutions and individuals who call themselves Catholic will be put in a very uncomfortable and unfamiliar position. US Catholics have generally been able to “render unto Caesar” without running afoul of Church precepts. Roe v. Wade and stem cell research may be seen as possible exceptions, but in neither case did the government mandate direct, explicit financing by the institutional Church: Catholics retained the freedom to disagree, oppose, and refrain from participating in the proscribed activity. The Affordable Care Act requires operational and financial participation under penalty of law. There’s the difference, and there’s the rub.

Catholic institutions include significant numbers of educational and health care organizations whose employees and clients number in the millions, and whose economic impact is counted in the billions. Will they forsake their Catholic identity to comply with the law? Will they risk fines and imprisonment in defense of Catholic teaching? Either way, the face of American Catholicism will be forever changed.

The Church is at a crossroads, and this generation of American Catholics, perhaps for the first time, has been enjoined by their leaders to take a public stand on a matter of religious belief. It is a call to civil disobedience with all the unpleasant consequences it implies. How will the call be answered?

MLB Power Shift

Don't know if anyone's been paying attention, but the balance of power has shifted heavily from the NL to the AL in the last month or so. With the departure of Albert Pujols and, I think, more significantly, Tony LaRussa, from the Cardinals, the reigning champs will likely see their performances waning over the next years.

Also, with the departure of Prince Fielder to the Detroit Tigers, and with Ryan Braun suspended for the first 50 games of 2012, the Milwaukee Brewers do not look to have the bats to be able to compete like they have been.

What this all means for me is that the Reds have to be the favored team in the NL Central next year. Joey Votto is also the front-runner for NL MVP, with his competition in Fielder and Pujols gone to the AL. The Reds chances look fantastic against a much depleted NL Central. Thanks goes to all those AL teams willing to pay massive salaries to Fielder and Pujols, who will soon both be DHs because they are too old to play in the field.

All. F-ing. In.

Walt Jocketty is just challenging the NL Central to come get some!!!

Get reacquainted with this image. I just got word that tonight, the Reds have signed Ryan Madson as their new closer. This offseason, we traded depth for an ace starter in Mat Latos. In a separate deal, we also traded for shutdown reliever (and former Reds killer) Sean Marshall.

The projected 2012 lineup now looks almost set. I don't see any LF free agents or potential trade targets left that are worth acquiring. Hey, given a full year in left, Heisey projects to 30 HR and 77 RBI with a .263 avg. I'll take that! So this is what our lineup card should look like most days, with projections provided by RotoChamp:

Lineup	Player	POS	Team	AB	R	HR	RBI	SB	AVG	OBP	SLG
1	Brandon Phillips	2B	CIN	595	93	17	60	17	0.279	0.337	0.432
2	Zack Cozart	SS	CIN	385	53	11	46	0	0.283	0.317	0.439
3	Joey Votto	1B	CIN	575	115	31	111	10	0.313	0.421	0.553
4	Jay Bruce	OF	CIN	565	91	31	100	7	0.255	0.341	0.476
5	Scott Rolen	3B	CIN	400	55	11	61	2	0.270	0.332	0.443
6	Drew Stubbs	OF	CIN	576	75	18	73	35	0.247	0.326	0.391
7	Chris Heisey	OF	CIN	480	66	30	77	7	0.263	0.326	0.494
8	Ryan Hanigan	C	CIN	270	39	6	33	0	0.289	0.383	0.385

And how about this set of starters:

Starter	Player	POS	Team	IP	W	L	ERA	WHIP	K	BB
1	Mat Latos	SP	CIN	200	15	9	3.65	1.21	194	62
2	Johnny Cueto	SP	CIN	175	13	8	3.45	1.19	125	55
3	Mike Leake	SP	CIN	175	11	8	3.81	1.26	121	45
4	Bronson Arroyo	SP	CIN	200	11	10	4.23	1.30	113	50
5	Homer Bailey	SP	CIN	160	10	9	4.05	1.33	131	48

The Cuban Missile, Aroldis Chapman will also be groomed as a starter, but has had some shoulder stiffness this winter. I suspect that he starts the season in extended spring training or the minors to work up his arm strength and stretch him out for starting. Then, when the inevitable collapse by either Bailey or Arroyo occurs, he gets plugged in and is good to finish out the season without worrying about excessive innings!

And don't forget about what I now claim to be the best bullpen in baseball.

Player	POS	Team	IP	W	L	Saves	ERA	WHIP	K	BB
Ryan Madson	RP	CIN	60	4	2	32	2.37	1.15	62	16
Sean Marshall	RP	CIN	65	3	3	5	2.49	1.15	69	18
Nick Masset	RP	CIN	65	3	3	5	3.32	1.42	61	28
Bill Bray	RP	CIN	60	3	3	0	3.90	1.12	57	22
Logan Ondrusek	RP	CIN	60	3	3	0	4.35	1.32	40	26
Jose Arredondo	RP	CIN	55	2	2	0	4.42	1.40	51	31
Sam LeCure	RP	CIN	110	5	4	0	3.52	1.13	100	36

I think we need to seriously start thinking about a nickname and theme song for this crew. The Nasty Boys and U Can't Touch This carried us through 1990. This team is being built for a a no-holds-barred run at the playoffs, and is certainly capable of competing in a 7 game series against the Angels, Phillies, Rangers or Yankees.

Anybody want to split season's tickets???

Verizon - revisited

Ha, ha, ha! Ian posted about the release of the iPhone for Verizon earlier this year. There was a lively series of comments, with the general consensus being that if you want a Verizon iPhone, wait for the upcoming iPhone 5 (turned out to be 4S) and then pounce.

Among the comments, I spoke my peace regarding the typical complaints about the AT&T network. To save you a click, I will paste them here:

The whole ATT network thing is a joke. ATT has the biggest, most robust network in the US. No other network would have been able to handle the iPhone when it first released. Every network has some dead spots. Sounds like Ian lives in one. I for one have never had a dropped call when I had 2 or more bars. Ever. I think a ton of people were just pissed that they had to choose ATT for an iPhone and they have just been very vocal. I can't wait to hear all the Verizon iPhone users bitch and moan starting in about a month. They'll have something to complain about because that's all they've done for over 2 years.

I am actually excited about Verizon for a different reason. Now all these complainers will leave ATT and I'll get better data connections at big events - the biggest issue I have with my phone. I love checking scores while at a game. O also love sending texts and pics from games.

So I laughed OUT LOUD today when I read the following headline story on CNET:

Verizon's network suffers third outage this month

That's America's "most reliable network!" I'm sure there are no dropped calls though.

MVP

I watched Monday Night Football last night with Ali and her Dad. It was perhaps the first time in history that Ali has watched an entire MNF game. Why? because the Saints needed a win to clinch the division, and Drew Brees was going for Dan Marino's 27 year-old all-time season passing yardage record. Along with 76,000 Superdome fans, Brees has my vote for MVP.

I turned on the radio briefly at lunch today and caught the Colin Cowherd fill-ins on ESPN, Mike Hill and Michael Smith (it takes two hosts to fill Cowherds big shoes). They were in the middle of a discussion on the MVP, and I was interested to hear their take on Aaron Rodgers vs. Brees. Low and behold, I was shocked to hear Mike Hill claiming that (wait for it) Cam Newton was the MVP!!!!!!

Are you f-ing kidding me? Is this some strange extension of the Rooney Rule? Look, Newton is a good QB, and he has exceeded ALL expectations this year. However, not only is he NOT an MVP candidate - he isn't even rookie of the year. Newton plays for a crappy Panthers team that is 6-9. He has no other weapons and every play goes like this: shotgun, read #1 receiver, read #2 receiver, nobody open, tuck and run. The Panthers are always behind, and he is always passing. So his stats to me are meaningless.


As Coach Willingham said it so famously, YOU PLAY TO WIN THE GAME! While I love Brees, I have no problem giving MVP to Rodgers. The Pack is 14-1 and they beat the Saints. However, if Newton wins rookie of the year over Andy Dalton, I will shit a football helmet. They have comparable passing stats, with Newton having an extra category with his rushing. The difference:

• Dalton has four 4th quarter comeback wins!
• Very few late mistakes, closing out other victories. (Damn Pittsburgh)
  
• Dalton has led the Bengals to a 9-6 record, one win away from a playoff spot.

Is there any other debate? There's fantasy football and reality football. Cam Newton may be rookie of the year in fantasy football, but Dalton is the ROOKIE OF THE YEAR.

Trailer Heaven

Big week for Hollywood. They are starting to roll out the trailers for the mega-blockbusters which will surely make 2012 the biggest grossing year in the history of cinema. You can check out my previous post listing the amazing lineup of movies in 2012 here:

2012 - Hollywood Goes Out with a Bang

After you start to salivate, head over to iTunes for the action. Already available:

• Avengers
• MIB 3
• The Amazing Spider-Man

Coming this week, HOLD ON TO YOUR BUTTS!

• The Dark Knight Rises
• Prometheus
• The Hobbit

Seriously, those three movies together will make about $2 billion next year. If you aren't so excited that you haven't already stopped reading this and clicked over, I don't know what else to say.

Holy Tebow!

I know it's overkill at this point, but the Denver Tebows winning ways just continue to boggle the mind. Since taking over QB duties full-time in week 7, the Broncos have gone 7-1. Seems like Tebow may actually be a viable NFL quarterback! Before signing on though, let's take a look at each of those games.

Week 7 @ Miami
WIN: 18 - 15
Playing one of the worst teams in the NFL this year, Tebow leads two 4th quarter touchdown drives to take the game into overtime, where the Broncos win on a 52-yard Matt Prater field goal.

Week 8 Detroit
LOSS: 45 - 10
Shellacked!

Week 9 @ Oakland
WIN: 38 - 24
Denver gets Oakland in Carson Palmer's first start after joining the Raiders in week 7.

Week 10 @ Kansas City
WIN: 17 - 10
The Chiefs lose starting quarterback Matt Cassell for the season midway through the game.

Week 11 New York Jets
WIN: 17 - 10
Big win at home against a Jets team that was playing on a shortened week after getting plastered on Sunday night by the Patriots.

Week 12 @ San Diego
WIN: 16 - 13
Matt Prater with a game-tying 4th quarter field goal, then the game winner with 29 seconds left in overtime after San Diego had missed a 53-yard attempt earlier in OT. This would be San Diego's sixth straight loss.

Week 13 @ Minnesota
WIN: 35 - 32
Another 4th quarter comeback and game-winning field goal from Matt Prater as the Broncos knock-off a Minnesota team playing without Adrian Peterson.

Week 14 Chicago
WIN: 13 - 10
Another 4th quarter comeback. Another game-tying Matt Prater field goal (this one from 59-yards). Another game-winner from Prater from 51-yards. The Bears were led by Caleb Hanie and without Matt Forte. Also, Marion Barber inexplicably RAN OUT OF BOUNDS after picking up a first down with Chicago leading, Denver out of timeouts, and under two minutes left to play allowing time for Prater's game-tying field goal.

Here's my take - winning is hard to do in the NFL no matter who you are and who you're playing. So I give Tebow kudos for the Bronco's current run. But I have two big caveats:

1. Matt Prater is the real hero here with multiple game-tying and game-winning field goals from 50+ yards. During their current run, Prater has accounted for 54 of Denver's 164 points. And, aside from the explosions against Oakland and Minnesota which accounted for 73 of those 164 points, Denver has failed to score more than 18 points in any game since Tebow took over.
2. Tebow has been helped by one of the weakest scheduling runs I can ever recall, facing either horrible teams or ones just recently suffering massive injuries to their best players. Just look at this list:
1. @ Miami, who were 0-5 coming in
2. Crushed by a competent Detroit
3. @ Oakland, who had just lost their starting QB
4. @ KC, who lost their starting QB during the game
5. NYJ - decent win, but an infamously bad offensive team
6. @ San Diego, who had lost 5 straight coming in
7. @ Minnesota, who had just lost Adrian Peterson
8. @ Chicago, helmed by Caleb Hanie and without Matt Forte

This week Tebow will face a decent team for the first time since the Lions in week 8 when they host the Patriots. I expect a bad loss. But then Denver gets the hapless Bills and another run at Tyler Palko-led (yes, THE Tyler Palko) Kansas City.

Again, winning in the NFL is hard. And lots of teams are beat up at this point in the season so that's hardly an excuse. So while Denver probably wouldn't be on this tear if, say, I was their quarterback, Tebow has certainly been given the reigns at a fortuitous moment in time. It's a fun story to follow and debate, even if the games themselves couldn't be less boring to watch until the last 5 minutes.

Now or Never

The MLB winter meetings are going on right now in Dallas. This is traditionally the time where big free agents are signed, and GMs get together to talk trades. While all the news from Dallas revolves around the Marlins signing Reyes and going HARD after Pujols, Walt Jocketty has quietly been working his mojo.

The Reds are in DIRE need of two big components: a front-line starting pitcher and a right-handed outfielder who has some pop to hit in the middle of the order. After 2010, I thought the Reds were on their way to being perennial playoff contenders with their core of young talent. However, I was greatly dismayed when Jocketty failed to make even one substantial off-season move. If the Reds are serious about winning the NL Central, they cannot stand by without making a couple moves. We've got no chance if we do.

So for Christmas, I would like to ask St. Walt to bring us:

James Shields, SP, TB
Shields MUST be a Red. He is an ace pitcher who was an all-star in 2011 for the Rays. He got hot late and carried them into the playoffs. He induces groundballs, K's a lot of batters, and is an AL guy whom NL hitters have not faced. To top it off, he is under contract through 2014 at reasonable salaries of $7.5M, $9M and $12M. what's more, the Rays need prospects at positions we've got, making for a good trade partner. We have got to get him!

Josh Willingham, LF, OAK
This guy is THE perfect fit to solve so many of our problems. He plays LF, our perennial platoon position. He hits R, a weakness in our lineup. He hit 4th for most of the season - perfect right behind Votto! He hits for power, and is a pretty good fielder. He's a free agent and made $6M last year. He could be pricy, and there is a lot of interest in him. However, we let Cordero go, freeing up a lot of cash. This is the type of guy that the Reds are always going after, but NEVER get. I am still pissed we didn't go harder after Matt Holliday in 2009. We could have won it all in 2010 with him in the lineup!

Sign these two and we are GOOD for 2012. There are some other interesting options at pitcher around the league, but not many other OFs that would fit the bill. Without Willingham, we likely have to give Alonso a try at RF for the year.

Chumps Sports Bowl

Yippeeeeee! Another amazing Bowl for Notre Dame, following up our prestigious turn in the Hyundai Sun Bowl in El Paso last year, this year we head to Orlando for the exciting Champs Sports Bowl. Actually the matchup is interesting, but yet again we have scheduled ourselves out of a chance at the BCS.

College football is not the same as when ND was dominant in the 70's through 90's. The "barnstorming" mentality of playing anyone is great in principle, but in reality it will surely kill our chances at a BCS title. I know it may be an unpopular opinion, but Irish fans HAVE GOT TO GET THEIR HEADS OUT OF THE SAND!

I would like to present to you the 2011 BCS Lineup:

TEAM:   SOS(rank) / vs TOP 10 / vs TOP 30
Rose Bowl
WISC:   70.00(58) / 0-0 / 3-1
OREG:   73.40(29) / 1-1 / 2-2
Fiesta Bowl
STAN:   72.46(36) / 0-1 / 3-1
OKST:   80.28(6)  / 2-0 / 6-1
Sugar Bowl
MICH:   71.77(42) / 0-0 / 2-1
VATECH: 70.04(56) / 0-0 / 0-2
Orange Bowl
WVU:    68.90(67) / 0-1 / 0-1
CLEM:   71.44(44) / 0-0 / 3-1
BCS Title
LSU:    76.01(18) / 3-0 / 4-0
ALA:    74.27(23) / 1-1 / 2-1
*****************************
ND:     73.83(26) / 0-1 / 1-3

This is literally a JOKE! There are schools that literally SCHEDULED their spot into the BCS this year. Look at VaTech. How they get an at-large is beyond me. They didn't play one Top 10 team, and didn't have a win against a Top 30 team! And WVU? They played a Top 10 team and lost. But that was it. They didn't even win the Big East. They tied, and got in by their ranking. Michigan an at-large? Come on! I didn't even bother to go through the cupcakes the teams that actually deserved a BCS spot played non-conference.

Did ND have a "murderer's row" this year? No. But we still played a more deserving schedule than most of those teams. The way I see it, we have two choices:

1) Remain independent and water down the schedule.
I'm not saying play D2 schools or C-USA teams. Just avoid lining up OK, USC, UM, Miami, MSU, Stanford in ONE SEASON (see next year)!!! Seriously, if we beat USC and Michigan in a season and then play a couple mid-majors and a few lower tier BCS schools, we would be 12-0 and absolutely in a BCS Championship. Heck, if we win 10 games and lose those 2 to USC and Michigan, we would get an at-large bid anyway! That's what VaTech, WVU and Michigan did!

2) Join a conference and keep our USC and Navy rivalries.
This would be a better option, in my opinion. No excuses about the schedule. We still play an elite non-conf team in USC, and we would have a better shot at the BCS as an at-large with an easier schedule AND a potential automatic bid if we win the conference. Wait, we don't win the conference? Then at least we get a Bowl tie-in, and don't have to scramble for scraps and hope other conferences don't have enough eligible teams to fill their Bowls.

Can you say ACC??? It's working out great for VaTech and Clemson!!!

Ender's Game: The Movie!!!

My all-time favorite sci-fi book is Ender's Game. Many would quickly agree, as it was recently ranked #3 all-time for sci-fi/fantasy by NPR in a reader's poll. I have probably read it 10 times, and I even listened to an audiobook performance in my car the past year while commuting to work one week.

Since it was published in 1985, Orson Scott Card has kept tight control over the rights to the book, and has squashed many, many, many, many, many attempts to adapt the film to the big screen. I have followed these developments occasionally, as blog's and websites are devoted to the book and "Enderverse". It seems that OSC has a vision of the film that requires CHILD actors of a multinational pedigree. Previous adaptations have tried to make Ender a teen with angst and relationships - to sell to the public. Thank God OSC has resisted.

So it was with great joy that I read today that Ender's Game has been greenlit for production by Summit Entertainment! The official release date is March 15, 2013. Asa Butterfield has been officially signed to play Ender, and they are going for a heavy hitter as Col. Graff, with Harrison Ford mentioned prominently. I have to say that pics of Asa look pretty close to what I have envisioned Ender to look like, even if he is closer in age (14) to Ender at the end of the book.

I don't think this movie could have ever been made without Harry Potter. That group of child actors pulled off what OSC is looking for in Ender's Game. I have also heard an interview by OSC in which he says the breakthrough in the movie script was his later release of Ender's Shadow. Combining the two narratives from different perspectives allows for a more audience friendly movie. I hope they don't screw this one up. I will be watching closely to see how it comes along. Obviously, CGI will be required, but let's hope they keep it realistic.

ps: If you haven't already... GO READ THE BOOK!!!