San Diego

Not much to report today.

I'm on my way to San Diego to catch the Packers - Chargers game.

Walking with The Bear

A big day today as #1 LSU plays #2 Alabama in Tuscaloosa.

I will always have a life-long affinity for the Crimson Tide.

My father taught at the University of Alabama when I was a kid. As a faculty member, he used to get tickets to the games, so I got to see a lot of classic teams play, including the ones that won the National Championship in 78-79.

I attended elementary school at Verner Elementary, which was located about 300 yards from Bryan Denny stadium. Our school rented out its front yard for parking for the games.

The team practiced a few miles away next to the basketball arena. Coach Bear Bryant had a metal observation tower constructed next to the field, and you could often see him there.

One day I was watching the team practice and I snuck through a gate and got onto the field. As the team headed through a tunnel which led to locker rooms in the basketball arena, I snuck in behind them. Near the locker rooms, there were some giant, wheeled laundry baskets with equipment in them. I was looking at some of the team helmets when I heard a voice behind me.

"You best be careful son! You fall in that basket and we'll take you to Athens with us!"

I turned around and there he was. The legend.

Head Coach Paul "Bear" Bryant.

"Mr. Bryant!" I said. I stuck out my hand.

He shook it. His hand seemed enormous to me, as I was just a kid.

It was thirty years ago, but I remember it like it was yesterday.

Bryant would die just a few short years later, so I'll never have a repeat opportunity.

I have met a lot of famous people in my life, but this meeting stands out more than others.

Bryant is a legendary figure in Alabama, in a way that movie and rock stars can only dream of.

He won six National Championships for Alabama.

There is an enormous statue of him outside the stadium.

And on game day today, thousands of people will be posing for pictures with it.

November 4, 1980

A special treat for Joseph Mailander.

Peyton Manning: 2011 NFL MVP

A brief comment this morning.

I seriously think that NFL sportswriters and TV network analysts should consider Peyton Manning to be voted the NFL MVP this year.

So he didn't play? So what?

The true test of an MVP-caliber player is seeing what his team would be like without him.

Peyton Manning, this year, is living out a nightmarish version of "It's a Wonderful Life".

Two years ago, Manning led his team to a 14-0 record, before they let off the accelerator a little bit and dropped two meaningless games at the very end of the season while resting their starters for the playoffs. Peyton took his team to the Super Bowl that year.

Two years later...his team is 0-8 without him, and looking a very real possibility of an 0-16 season.

From Super Bowl to 0-16 because one player has a neck injury.

Sadly, I really think this is the end for the future Hall of Famer.

I don't think he ever plays again.

But I hope I'm wrong.

Is Peyton Manning really the NFL's Most Valuable Player in 2011?

Damn right he is.

Don't agree with me?

Go ask any of the Colts opponents if they ever want to see him back on the field again.

That should be the only answer you need.

Has Villaraigosa screwed us all?

Despite his extra-marital proclivities, the title of this blog post is not a cheap double entendre.

I was recently talking to an activist friend who says that Villaraigosa may have bought this City an entire years worth of troubles. How, you ask...?

I guess that the State of California has "squatters rights" laws on the books.

If this source is correct, then the squatters, who are using adverse possession to Occupy Los Angeles City Hall, may be obtaining legal grounds to stay.

My source believes that adverse possession of the property for 30 continuous days gives them the legal right to be there for the length of one year.

Can this be right? Calling Walter Moore!!

I only attended law school and am not a bar-certified attorney, but I would imagine someone at City Hall has got to have the common sense to prevent this from happening.

This whole thing is insanity.

Villaraigosa should have turned loose the tear gas and fire hoses a long time ago.

The Dark Lord: Raising the Dead?

One issue that I had declined to blog about in the past was an accusation a while back about the City Council race in District 2. It had been reported to me that certain candidates were cheating. Certain candidates were -- allegedly -- using political party cronies to round up vote-by-mail ballots from the aged, feeble, or infirm at retirement/convalescent hospitals. They were marking them for their candidate and mailing them in. The low-budget candidates in this race did not have the staff or the financial resources to pull off this cunning and devious political power play.

I never got any hard facts from the people reporting this...but the post-election voter data shows too many statistical improbabilities for this to be an urban legend. A source who worked on one of the campaigns remembers looking at the voter data list months later and noticing that certain voters that were over 90 years old... who hadn't voted in multiple years...suddenly getting interested in voting in an obscure City Council race involving two big money spenders like The Dark Lord (Paul Krekorian) and The Beverly Hills Carpetbagger (Christine Essel).

One of the ladies who voted by mail was 103 years old.

Did she really break her multiple-year non-voting pattern to bust out a vote for Zuma Dogg?

Unlikely.

Occams razor is the theory that the simplest explanation is most likely the correct one.

It is my theory that The Dark Lord, assisted by his willing minions in the Los Angeles Democratic Party, is the only person who had the money and political connections necessary to pull of this Machiavellian power move.

I would prefer to think that this was the explanation. That Paul Krekorian cheated in the election.

The other possible option? It is nearly unthinkable:

Necromancy.

Don't think that I haven't noticed the similarities between Democrats and zombies.

Bob Hope noticed it too....

But to honestly think that The Dark Lord had now obtained the mystical power to raise the dead? And to get them to vote Democratic?

Chilling. I shudder to even think of the implications.

He would never lose another election....

Herman Cain on the hot seat

Breaking news in the last 24 hours: Presidential candidate Herman Cain is spending time backtracking and excusing his way out of factual evidence that he was sued for sexual harassment back in the 1990s.

The two women involved received a small financial settlement and agreed to non-disclosure terms.

Now, there are a few things I want to point out here.

I don't dislike Herman Cain. He seems to have an impressive resumé and his experience in the business world might be something we could use in Washington. He might be very good in the job.

However, he has never been elected to any office -- and jumping into the White House is a mighty big step to take. There is a reason that the United States usually elects Governors or Generals. We like to have a person with government leadership experience at the top.

I have actually always felt that this run at President was just Herman Cain "building his brand" so that he could eventually win a race for U.S. Senate or Governor further down the road.

I don't believe he will win a single primary or caucus.

Things like this sexual harassment lawsuit are a perfect example. When it comes right down to it, most people don't know what Herman Cain was doing 3 years ago, or 5 years ago, or 10 years ago.

This leaves too much room for "gotcha" politics.

What else don't we know about Herman Cain?

We know what Michele Bachmann and Ron Paul have been doing for many years...they have been members of Congress. We know Mitt Romney has been running for President non-stop for about 6 years. We know Rick Perry has been Governor of Texas for the last 10 years straight.

But Herman Cain? He was the CEO of Godfathers Pizza. That is about what the average voter knows about him.

Now they know that he was sued for sexual harassment, and his poll numbers are going to sink like a rock, because the issue goes directly to his integrity. Politician John Edwards got caught cheating on his wife, and his career was ruined. Newt Gingrich could easily be the top candidate, except for the fact that voters don't trust him because he was an adulterer in his personal life.

Herman Cain hasn't helped himself by being less than honest about these facts. And he is starting to get his story mixed-up about what he knew and when he knew it. Again, these issues go straight to trustability and character.

Herman Cain better get his act together quick on this story, or he is going to find himself back in the single digits.