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Acetaminophen and Propoxyphene will no longer be available in the U.S. after November 19, 2010. If you are currently using propoxyphene, you should call your doctor to discuss switching to another treatment.
[Posted 01/13/2011]ISSUE:FDA notified healthcare professionals that it has asked drug manufacturers to limit the strength of acetaminophen in prescription drug products, predominantly combinations of acetaminophen and opioids, to 325 mg per tablet, capsule, or other dosage unit, making these products safer for patients. This action will help to reduce the risk of severe liver injury and allergic reactions associated with acetaminophen. A Boxed Warning highlighting the potential for severe liver injury and a Warning highlighting the potential for allergic reactions (swelling of the face, mouth, and throat, difficulty breathing, itching, or rash) will be added to the label of all prescription drug products that contain acetaminophen.
BACKGROUND:Acetaminophen, one of the most commonly used drugs in the United States, is widely and effectively used in both prescription and over-the-counter (OTC) products to reduce pain and fever. Examples of prescription products that contain acetaminophen include hydrocodone with acetaminophen (Vicodin, Lortab), and oxycodone with acetaminophen (Tylox, Percocet). OTC products containing acetaminophen (e.g., Tylenol) are not affected by this action. Information about the potential for liver injury is already required on the label for OTC products containing acetaminophen. FDA is continuing to evaluate ways to reduce the risk of acetaminophen related liver injury from OTC products. No drug shortages are expected, because the 3-year implementation period should permit adequate time for necessary reformulations.
RECOMMENDATION:Healthcare professionals were reminded to advise patients not to exceed the acetaminophen maximum total daily dose (4 grams/day), and not to drink alcohol while taking acetaminophen-containing medications.
Healthcare professionals were encouraged to inform patients that there is no immediate danger to patients who take these combination pain medications, and patients should continue to take them as directed by their health care provider. The Drug Safety Communication provides additional information for healthcare professionals, information for patients, a data summary and a list of all affected products. For more information visit the FDA website at: Web Siteand Web Site.
[Posted 11/19/2010]ISSUE:FDA notified healthcare professionals that Xanodyne Pharmaceuticals has agreed to withdraw propoxyphene (Darvon), an opioid pain reliever used to treat mild to moderate pain, from the U.S. market at the request of the FDA, due to new data showing that the drug can cause serious toxicity to the heart, even when used at therapeutic doses. FDA concluded that the safety risks of propoxyphene outweigh its benefits for pain relief at recommended doses. FDA requested that the generic manufacturers of propoxyphene-containing products [e.g., propoxyphene combined with acetaminophen (Darvocet)] remove their products as well.
BACKGROUND:FDA's recommendation is based on all available data including data from a new study that evaluated the effects that increasing doses of propoxyphene have on the heart (see Data Summary in Drug Safety Communication). The results of the new study showed that when propoxyphene was taken at therapeutic doses, there were significant changes to the electrical activity of the heart: prolonged PR interval, widened QRS complex and prolonged QT interval. These changes can increase the risk for serious abnormal heart rhythms.
RECOMMENDATION:FDA recommends that healthcare professionals stop prescribing and dispensing propoxyphene-containing products to patients, contact patients currently taking propoxyphene-containing products and ask them to discontinue the drug, inform patients of the risks associated with propoxyphene, and discuss alternative pain management strategies. Patients were advised to dispose of unused propoxyphene in household trash by following the recommendations outlined in the Federal Drug Disposal Guidelines at: Web Site. For more information visit the FDA website at: Web Siteand Web Site.
[Posted 7/7/2009] FDA notified healthcare professionals that it is taking several actions to reduce the risk of overdose in patients using pain medications that contain propoxyphene because of data linking propoxyphene and fatal overdoses. The agency will require manufacturers of propoxyphene-containing products to strengthen the label, including the boxed warning, emphasizing the potential for overdose when using these products and to provide a medication guide to patients stressing the importance of using the drugs as directed.
FDA is requiring a new safety study assessing unanswered questions about the effects of propoxyphene on the heart at higher than recommended doses. Findings from this study, as well as other data, could lead to additional regulatory action. To further evaluate the safety of propoxyphene, FDA plans to work with several groups including the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services and the Veterans Health Administration to study how often the elderly are prescribed propoxyphene instead of other pain relievers and the difference in the safety profiles of propoxyphene compared to other drugs. For more information visit the FDA website at: Web Siteand Web Site.
Propoxyphene in high doses, taken by itself or in combination with other drugs, has been associated with drug-related deaths. Do not take propoxyphene in combination with other drugs that cause drowsiness: alcohol, tranquilizers, sleep aids, antidepressant drugs, or antihistamines. Do not take a larger dose, take it more often, or for a longer period than your doctor tells you to.
This combination of drugs is used to relieve mild to moderate pain. The drug also will help treat fever.
This medication is sometimes prescribed for other uses; ask your doctor or pharmacist for more information.
The combination of acetaminophen and propoxyphene comes as a tablet to take by mouth. It usually is taken every 4 hours as needed. Follow the directions on your prescription label carefully, and ask your doctor or pharmacist to explain any part you do not understand. Take acetaminophen and propoxyphene exactly as directed.
Propoxyphene can be habit-forming. Do not take a larger dose, take it more often, or for a longer period than your doctor tells you to.
Before taking acetaminophen and propoxyphene,
This medication usually is taken as needed. If your doctor has told you to take acetaminophen and propoxyphene regularly, take the missed dose as soon as you remember it. However, if it is almost time for the next dose, skip the missed dose and continue your regular dosing schedule. Do not take a double dose to make up for a missed one.
Acetaminophen and propoxyphene may cause side effects. Tell your doctor if any of these symptoms are severe or do not go away:
If you experience either of the following symptoms, call your doctor immediately:
If you experience a serious side effect, you or your doctor may send a report to the Food and Drug Administration's (FDA) MedWatch Adverse Event Reporting program online [at Web Site] or by phone [1-800-332-1088].
Keep this medication in the container it came in, tightly closed, and out of reach of children. Store it at room temperature and away from excess heat and moisture (not in the bathroom). Throw away any medication that is outdated or no longer needed. Talk to your pharmacist about the proper disposal of your medication.
In case of overdose, call your local poison control center at 1-800-222-1222. If the victim has collapsed or is not breathing, call local emergency services at 911.
Keep all appointments with your doctor.
Too much acetaminophen may cause liver damage; do not take more than 4000 mg of acetaminophen per day.
Do not let anyone else take your medication. Ask your pharmacist any questions you have about refilling your prescription.
It is important for you to keep a written list of all of the prescription and nonprescription (over-the-counter) medicines you are taking, as well as any products such as vitamins, minerals, or other dietary supplements. You should bring this list with you each time you visit a doctor or if you are admitted to a hospital. It is also important information to carry with you in case of emergencies.
Please be aware that this information is provided to supplement the care provided by your physician. It is neither intended nor implied to be a substitute for professional medical advice. CALL YOUR HEALTHCARE PROVIDER IMMEDIATELY IF YOU THINK YOU MAY HAVE A MEDICAL EMERGENCY. Always seek the advice of your physician or other qualified health provider prior to starting any new treatment or with any questions you may have regarding a medical condition.
Copyright © 2007 EBSCO Publishing All rights reserved.


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Dr. Greene's Answer:
Bee stings have been a nuisance long enough to have appeared in prehistoric cave paintings in Spain. Bee stings are part of our collective memory and they are part of our individual memories as well. While many moments of childhood come and go, the surprise, the pain, and the tears etch bee stings into images that we can recall even in old age, when our short-term memory begins to fade.
Bees have a highly developed social culture. The many species of bees have an important role in our environment. Most species of bees are clearly beneficial to humans. They are also the only insects that make food consumed by humans. But their stings hurt… and can be lethal.
Typically, bees are not aggressive creatures. Their stingers are for defense, not attack. Honeybees die when they sting. Preventing stings is best for all concerned. Traditional insect repellents are of no use in preventing bee stings. What does work?
Effective prevention means not attracting bees and not frightening them if they are present. Prevention techniques are especially important in the fall, when most stings occur. It takes 2 million visits to flowers to make one pound of honey. In the autumn, as flowers disappear, bees search more widely for food and take more risks.
Today, I spent some time with a beekeeper who was standing inside a screened cage full of honeybees. The bees rested on his bare face and arms as he described how to avoid stings. Flowers attract bees by their fragrant aroma, their bright colors, and their sweet taste.
Tips to Avoid Bee Stings
- Avoid fragrances, including hair spray, scented soaps, lotions, and oils. Bees usually approach children with a sweet scent.
- Don't wear brightly colored clothing, particularly floral patterns, i.e. don't look like a flower patch. Bees also see in the ultraviolet range. If the pattern lights up under black light, it is particularly interesting to bees.
- Be very careful with food. Cans of soda are notorious: Bees climb in unobserved, and are frightened into stinging when the child drinks. Something as small as a forgotten raspberry jam stain on a sweater can be a problem.
If a Bee Does Land, Take Steps to Avoid Frightening It
- Hold still. Tell kids to pretend they're statues. Rapid movement startles the bee and encourages stinging.
- Try blowing gently on the bee. This can encourage it to move on while not startling it.
- Wear shoes. Bees will of course be frightened if you step on or near them. Shoes don't make them less frightened, but they do protect feet from frightened bees.
- Wear long pants when you know you are going to be in an area that is likely to have bees in it, such as a field.
- Wear a hat. Furry animals steal honey from bees. Bees are in a heightened state of readiness when they are close to hair or fur. They have been proven to have a higher threshold for stinging people with hats. The beekeeper today was wearing a pastel baseball cap.
The bee's stinger is barbed. In the act of stinging, the stinger is torn from the bee, along with the venom-filled poison sac and attached muscles. The barbs continue to work the stinger deeper into the flesh for several minutes, while venom continues to be injected. This led to statements such as this, which appear in most books on pediatric advice: "The stinger should be removed with a scraping motion by using the rigid edge of a credit card or a dull butter knife. Never attempt to pull out the stinger using fingers or tweezers, since this will result in the injection of more venom."
An excellent study published in the Lancet, August 1996, turns this advice on its ear. Researchers at the University of California, Riverside, and Pennsylvania State University tested what really happened by measuring the size of the wheals raised on their own forearms by bee stings. After stings in the left arm, they left the stinger in for 0.5 seconds, 1, 2, 4, or 8 seconds and then scraped the stinger out with a credit card. On the right arm, the stinger was removed by pinching the stinger between the thumb and forefinger at the same time intervals. There was no difference in wheal size between the different methods of extraction. The wheals did get larger, though, with each second that the stinger remained.
Treating Bee Stings
- Remove the stinger with all haste, in whatever manner is most convenient. If you see a little black dot in the wound, part of the stinger is still present.
- Clean the area with soap and water.
- Consider applying an antiperspirant to the site. An ingredient called aluminum chlorohydrate may reduce the effect of bee venom.
- Apply cold. Use ice or cool water for 10 to 30 minutes after the sting. This blunts the body's allergic response.
- An antihistamine such as Benadryl, taken by mouth, can give some added relief, and help prevent the reaction from spreading.
- A shake lotion such as calamine can be helpful. A paste made of baking soda and water can have a similar effect.
- Topical hydrocortisone can also provide some symptomatic relief.
- Give acetaminophen or ibuprofen for systemic pain relief.
After a Bee Sting
Different children will have different reactions:
- Bee stings cause immediate, painful red bumps.
- In most cases, the pain has largely disappeared within 2 hours, although swelling may not be apparent until the next day.
- Large local reactions, larger than 3 inches in diameter, will often persist for up to a week. A physician should be consulted if the reaction continues to spread.
- Systemic reactions such as hives, redness, or swelling elsewhere on the body, vomiting, dizziness, hoarseness, thickened speech, or difficulty breathing, should receive prompt medical care from a physician.
- Also, be sure to see a doctor if there were 10 or more stings, or if one of the stings was inside the nose or mouth, since swelling can interfere with breathing.
A child who has had a systemic reaction to a bee sting (which I can personally relate to) should follow special precautions set forth by his or her pediatrician. This will include carrying injectable epinephrine (which I do).
Although systemic reactions occur in about 3% of people who are stung, and anaphylactic shock can follow as many as 0.8% of bee stings, only about 40 people in the United States are killed by bee stings each year, and only 1 to 2 of these are children.

subset: commoncrawl


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It may not have matched the scoring flurry of Week 14, but Week 15 was the stuff movies are made of. From an unknown (to his own team) cornerback to a cast-off quarterback both getting redemption, Hollywood might have just gotten a couple of ideas
No, Week 15 didn't top Week 14, because you don't top five lead changes in the last three minutes of a game (Baltimore-Minnesota) and a back (LeSean McCoy) running for 100 yards in eight inches of snow in the first three minutes of the fourth quarter at Philadelphia.
But the stories in Week 15 ... priceless. You just have to read the one, just six paragraphs south of here, about the man who was awakened in his California apartment a week ago today by the continual buzzing of his cell phone and a text from his agent imploring, "WAKE UP!" or he'd blow the chance of a lifetime: the chance to stare down Tom Brady and make the kind of play he was convinced he would never, ever have a chance to make because, you know, well, life's not always fair to the undrafted guys who die on the vine on practice squads around the league. Michael Thomas, come on down! And there will be other stories. But here's what you should know about the NFL pennant race with 33 games left in the regular season:
Five of the top six playoff seeds in the league lost over the weekend—by an average of 10 points. Anyone want to win the AFC? The Broncos ceded top seed in the AFC to New England by losing Thursday night. The Patriots gave it right back by losing Sunday afternoon and plummeting down to the third seed. The Bengals then lost Sunday night, going from second to third. End result: Nothing happened at the top of the AFC race. Absolutely nothing.
A lot happened in the NFC. Seattle looked like the '76 Steelers shutting out the '76 Bucs in the 23-0 whipping of the Giants, who were stunningly non-competitive. And three divisions got very interesting:
NFC North: Three teams separated by a half-game: Chicago (8-6), Detroit (7-6), Green Bay (7-6-1). The Packers' win in Dallas, which, as I'll explain in a few moments, had the victorious quarterback still emotional when he landed back in Wisconsin early this morning, may end up totally retooling the division. The Pack had been left for dead at 6-6-1, with Matt Flynn playing for a bitterly disappointed Aaron Rodgers, who wanted to start in Dallas but was overruled by the team doc. But the Packers found a bizarre way, thanks to Tony Romo's generosity, to stay alive. If Green Bay wins out (Pittsburgh at home, at Chicago) and Detroit loses just one of its last three (Baltimore tonight, Giants next week, at Minnesota to close), Green Bay wins the division ... and Chicago and Detroit wouldn't even have a chance to be wild cards.
NFC South: The Saints have bristled against the they-stink-on-the-road label, but let's face it: They stink on the road. They were crushed by the weirdo Rams in the Ed Jones Dome, and now they face an uphill battle to win the NFC South. Carolina wins the division by winning out (Saints at home, then at Atlanta), and the Saints, as the fifth or sixth playoff seed, could have a ridiculous path to a second world title in the Brees era: at a team like Philly or Detroit in a wild card game, at Carolina in a divisional game and at Seattle for the conference championship ... all for the right to play a potentially sleety outdoor Super Bowl in New Jersey, when the Saints have lost four of their last five road games. Pardon the good people of Louisiana if they aren't catching playoff fever this morning.
NFC West: Seattle looks like a lock for home field. Now the question is: Can surprisingly 9-5 Arizona reach the playoffs by winning two brutal games: at Seattle, San Francisco at home? It's amazing that the Cards are in it at all, with the pace the Niners and Panthers have been setting. The good news for Arizona: Any team that's 6-1 in a seven-game stretch cannot be ignored. The bad news: The Cards lost their last game at Seattle 58-0.
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Miami snapped the schneid against the Pats. A guy some Dolphins don't know was key.
Last Monday morning, San Francisco practice squad safety Michael Thomas was sleeping in on a victory Monday for the Niners. A day off, other than getting a lift and a workout in at some point during the day. At 10:20 a.m., late for Thomas, he finally paid attention to the vibrating phone and sat up. He'd missed four calls from his agent, Christina Phillips, and a text that said, "WAKE UP! There's a team that wants you. If you don't wake up soon they're going to move on." Thomas called, and the team was Miami. There was no time to think. Miami was offering a spot on the 53-man roster, the Holy Grail for practice squad players, and seeing that Thomas had spent all 22 game weeks last year and all 14 weeks so far this year on the San Francisco practice squad, he figured he'd better grab an active-roster spot. There was a flight at 2:30 from San Francisco to Miami, and he had to be on it. He made it, not even bothering to close down his Bay Area apartment. "No time," he said. "I was just like, 'Holy crap! I gotta go!' "
Thomas began to get schooled Tuesday by Dolphins assistant defensive backs coach Blue Adams, but all week he got the sense that the more immediate focus would be on playing special teams against the Patriots Sunday. "I was going to start on the punt-return team, I knew that," Thomas said Sunday afternoon from the Miami locker room. He took no defensive snaps all week.
"I'm not gonna lie, I was pretty emotional. I was going out there knowing Tom Brady was coming after me."
The night before the game, Thomas heard about its importance: Miami hadn't beaten New England in the last seven tries. If the Dolphins wanted to have a good shot at being a wild card team, this game was the big one. So on Sunday, Thomas went in and played his part, running down on two special teams units, making a tackle on one punt play. But by the fourth quarter, corners Nolan Carroll and Brent Grimes were down. Thomas is a safety. He played the position at Stanford and in practice for the Niners. But right now, in the last five minutes, Miami didn't need a safety. The Dolphins had to have a corner.
"You want your opportunity?" Adams said. "It's time."
"I'm not gonna lie," Thomas said by phone from the locker room Sunday afternoon, when it was over. "I was pretty emotional. I was going out there knowing Tom Brady was coming after me."
On the first snap of the last New England series, Brady found Thomas. Brady threw to Danny Amendola for 11. On the second snap, he found Thomas. Brady threw to Shane Vereen for two. "I was out there, getting help from [safety] Reshad Jones," said Thomas. "He'd basically tell me what to do on most plays, like where to go and who to cover."
Brady got to the Miami 19, with 27 seconds left. First down. The defense broke the huddle and saw the spread New England formation. Jones nodded over to Amendola, split right. "You got no help," Jones said to Thomas.
No help. A safety playing cornerback in his first NFL game, in his first NFL quarter, against Tom Brady, in single coverage against one of Brady's favorite targets. Thomas ran with Amendola.
"Then there it was," Thomas said. "Tom Brady throwing at me."
The ball was over Thomas' head, bound for Amendola's hands. All Thomas could think of was the lesson he'd learned as a defensive back long ago. Play through his hands. As a trailer on the play, Thomas knew to do everything he could to disrupt the ball in Amendola's hands, and he did. Thomas knocked the ball away. No touchdown. Huge play.
Three plays later. Fourth-and-5 from the 14. Likely the last chance for Brady. This time Thomas would be in the slot, determined not to let a Patriots receiver get behind him with any cushion. Again Brady threw at Thomas, for Austin Collie, with another Dolphin also in coverage. The ball never got to Collie. Thomas jumped and picked it off.
The players he barely knew now were jumping on him, slapping him, celebrating. "Mama, I did it! I did it!" Thomas yelled over and over, but no one could hear him. No one could hear anything, because the stadium was so loud. And after the game, he cried. In Joe Philbin's post-game press conference, the coach seemed not to remember the name of the hero who broke up one touchdown pass in the end zone and then intercepted another. "We had a player in there that I think got into the building on Tuesday," Philbin said. That just added to the lore.
"I am overwhelmed," said Thomas. "It is so much to realize, how my life has changed and how this happened—Tom Brady throwing at me, and I answered the call. The only thing I can say is I am blessed."
Next time you hear some coach say, "It takes all 53 to win," think of Michael Thomas. Imagine if he'd slept a couple more hours last Monday. Maybe Miami would be on an eight-game losing streak to New England right now instead of a one-game winning streak.
Five points from the games that hit me Sunday.
1. How do the Dallas Cowboys run the ball seven times on 30 second-half plays when the back, DeMarco Murray, is knocking it out of the park (seven carries, 41 second-half yards, 5.8-yard average)? The two late interceptions reinforce what Tony Romo is at this point in his career: a very good quarterback who is allergic to the last five minutes of games. It's happened too many times now to call it a coincidence. But you know the series of this game I thought was so indicative of the way the Cowboys run their offense? Late third quarter, Dallas up 29-17, Dallas ball at its 15. Romo incomplete right, Romo incomplete middle, Romo sack, punt. The Cowboys, trying to run the clock down, spent all of 63 seconds on this drive ... when the only thing that mattered at this point was bleeding the clock. Greg A. Bedard has more on this game, and on the play-calling, for The MMQB.
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2. The Rams are 6-8. They've lost five games by double-digits. They've won five games by double-digits. Against the Saints, they controlled the line of scrimmage well, battering Drew Brees with the Robert Quinn- and Chris Long-led rush, and they got an excellent ball-control performance by rookie back Zac Stacy. St. Louis is at its best when it doesn't have to fill the air with footballs, and when Quinn has time to make an impact rushing the passer.
3. Julian Edelman in the fourth quarter Sunday: 10 targets, eight catches, 93 yards. His numbers in that quarter and in the last four games (37 catches, 414 yards) say he's going to be the Welker-type crutch for Tom Brady.
4. We all can see Seattle is a terrific defensive team, but the offensive consistency, even without Percy Harvin, is something to behold. The Seahawks have outrushed the opposition by 500 yards exactly, and out-passed foes by 550 yards. Aside from the road loss at the Niners last week, Seattle's consistently the best team in football, and it's not close for second. San Francisco's the second-best team, I just don't think it's going to be that close if they meet in Seattle in the playoffs.
5. If Matt Asiata was precocious enough to score three touchdowns in the absence of Adrian Peterson and Toby Gerhart Sunday, I wonder what our good friend Zach Line would have done were he not placed on IR early in the year?
* * *
Tony Romo helped, but Matt Flynn's second half saved the Packers.
When the strangest game of his life was over, the 37-36 win over Dallas in Texas on Sunday, Matt Flynn jumped around the locker room with his teammates—yes, they really jumped around, "like little kids at recess," Flynn said—and then he sat for a few minutes with his offensive linemen. "Did that really just happen?" he said to them.
"I mean, we couldn't believe it," Flynn, still hoarse from the game, said via cell phone when the Packers landed back in Wisconsin. "How do you explain that? I don't know that you can. When we were in the locker room at halftime [down 26-3], did we really think there was a chance, the way we played, that we could come back and win the game? Not really. Then, at the end of the game, when we get the ball back and the one-point lead, we were so giddy because we did the math on the sidelines and realized we could just run the clock out by kneeling. I had to say to [center] Evan Dietrich-Smith, 'Make sure the snap is clean,' because we were so happy and we needed to concentrate on getting three snaps done."
"It's all worth it now. This is the best day I've had in the NFL ... and if you have to go through some tough times to get there, well, that's the way it goes."
Flynn started believing when he dumped a three-yard TD to tight end Andrew Quarless with 16 minutes left in the game. That made it 29-17, and the fact that it was a two-score game after how poorly the Packers had played made it seem realistic they could catch up. After holding Dallas, they scored again—but this is when a Tramon Williams interception was overturned on review. And Romo went on to drive the length of the field then, re-establishing a 12-point lead midway through the fourth quarter.
"By then," Flynn said, "we were in the game. We thought we could do it. The ball was coming out of my hand great, and I knew we'd have a chance at least to come back."
Ten plays and 80 yards later, through the sieve of the Dallas defense, Flynn hit James Jones for a short touchdown and it was 36-31, with 4:17 to play. Green Bay needed a stop. Something better happened for them. Romo should have been handing to DeMarco Murray then, just to run the clock. But he was still throwing, and Sam Shields made a good read and pick on a crossing route. "On the next series," Flynn said, "I checked from a pass to a run twice, because they were in a two-deep." Burgeoning star Eddie Lacy got the benefit of one of those checks, and barreled to the Dallas 4. A minute later he flew over from the one, and it was 37-36. Romo obliged with another pick on the next series, and then, incredibly after trailing by 23 at the half, Green Bay had to bleed the final 90 seconds by kneeling.
It's been a long, strange trip for Flynn. Traded from Seattle to Oakland to be the starter before the 2013 draft. Lost the Raiders' starting job to Terrelle Pryor late in preseason. Cut by Oakland in October. Signed by Buffalo a week later. Cut by Buffalo on Nov. 4, in the afternoon. Four hours later Aaron Rodgers was smashed to the Lambeau turf in a Monday night game against Chicago, suffering a broken collarbone. The next week Flynn was back with the Packers. He suffered through the ignominy of the Thanksgiving Day massacre by the Lions, and in the last two weeks Green Bay has beaten Atlanta and Dallas (Flynn is 50 of 71 for 557 yards, five touchdowns and two picks in those two games), keeping the seat warm for Rodgers. Look for Rodgers to return next Sunday to face Pittsburgh.
"It's all worth it now," Flynn said. "This is the best day I've had in the NFL. You work for a long time to have the kind of fun we had today, and if you have to go through some tough times to get there, well, that's the way it goes."
* * *
The strangest thing that happened Sunday.
Yes, stranger than the Cowboys at home blowing a 23-point second-half lead to a backup quarterback.
I am still trying to figure out what happened at the end of regulation in the Arizona-Tennessee game. To recap: The Titans, down 34-24 with three minutes to go, kicked a field goal, recovered an onside kick and drove to a touchdown with 10 seconds left. So it was 34-33, Arizona, with 10 seconds left, and Tennessee coach Mike Munchak chose to kick the extra point to send the game to overtime. Rob Bironas kicked the PAT. But there was a flag on the play. Offside, Arizona. Munchak had a choice: take the five-yard penalty on the ensuing kickoff, or go half the distance to the goal line and go for two—and the win—from the Arizona 1-yard line.
Munchak chose to keep the point, and the tie, and play for overtime. In overtime, Arizona kicked the winning field goal and beat Tennessee, 37-34.
My problem is twofold. Tennessee had Arizona reeling. In the final minutes the Titans drove 87 yards to a field goal and 54 yards to a touchdown. That's 141 yards, in about three minutes. And they had a chance to get one yard to win the game, with no overtime. Of course, if they didn't make the yard, the game would be over, and they'd lose bitterly.
Bigger than capitalizing on the flow of the game (I've never been convinced that momentum is that big a deal, but 141 yards in 15 plays—now that's a big deal), to me, was the calendar year of 2013. What, exactly, was Munchak saying to his team and fan base after building a team in the offseason that was supposed to be able to grind out a tough yard when needed? The Titans made Andy Levitre the highest-paid guard in football in free agency last March. They drafted Chance Warmack, another guard, with their first-round pick in April. Levitre and left tackle Michael Roos would be one of the premier guard-tackle combinations in football.
And so Mike Munchak, a steely baron of the run game himself, had this choice: one play for the win from the 1-yard line; or overtime, where his chance would be, at best, 50-50, and a little less if he lost the coin flip before OT. Ask yourself this question: If the Titans had 10 shots from the 1-yard line behind Levitre and Roos, with Chris Johnson running behind them, isn't the team Mike Munchak created in the offseason built to succeed there a majority of the time?
This, really, is the most damning evidence about what is happening in Tennessee. Munchak went all-in on the running game and the tough offensive line, and Tennessee spent that way all offseason, even buying a beefy backup to Johnson, Shonn Greene, to help with the running load. And when it came time to get one yard to win a football game that would have been a tremendous boost in a mostly depressing year—and might have saved the jobs of the entire coaching staff as well—Munchak played for overtime.
That's a terrible decision. And when it comes time for new club czar Tommy Smith to pass judgment on Munchak after the season, we'd be naïve to think he's not going to wonder the same thing I just did.
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The Sportsman of the Year decision.
Apologies to all of you in advance: I am not the one who decides Sportsman of the Year. I did announce it on NBC's Football Night in America Sunday night, but that was a marriage of convenience because I work for NBC too. Chris Stone, the managing editor of the magazine, and the editors of Sports Illustrated pick the award. Many have asked about the decision to pick Peyton Manning over the many qualified others: David Ortiz/Boston Strong, Mariano Rivera, AJ McCarron, Jimmie Johnson, Phil Mickelson ... and I'm sure I am leaving out many.
Let's look at the competition this year. In baseball, the great Rivera took a victory lap as the best reliever ever, but the Yankees had a rare mediocre season and he didn't pitch in the kind of big games he usually does; David Ortiz led the Red Sox to another World Series title in a year the Boston region needed a lift, and he was as clutch as players come. Ortiz would have been a great pick. Both are more than solid candidates. Basketball: LeBron was named Sportsman in 2012. Hockey: No one stands out. Racing: Jimmie Johnson has won six NASCAR crowns, including this year's. Golf: Phil Mickelson won the Scottish and British opens, and almost the U.S. Open. Tennis: Serena Williams won the French and U.S. Opens, but half a slam is hardly a rarity in tennis circles. Colleges: I could be convinced on Alabama quarterback AJ McCarron, who piloted the Tide to a title last January and had a great year again this season.
Some years the choice is a slam dunk. The U.S. Olympic hockey team in 1980, Michael Jordan in 1991 (first NBA championship, NBA MVP), Cal Ripken breaking Lou Gehrig's consecutive-games record in 1995, Tom Brady in 2005 after his third Super Bowl title, Michael Phelps in 2008 for his eight Olympic golds. This year the picture is murkier, but I'd go, in order: Manning, Ortiz, Rivera, McCarron, Johnson.
Stone will give his reasoning, because it's ultimately his call. I like Manning for the award because, at 37 and maybe 85 percent of his former grip and arm strength because of his four neck procedures in 2010 and 2011, he is apace to challenge the two big single-season pro football passing records: touchdowns (50, held by Brady) and yards (5,476, held by Drew Brees). Having one's best year under the circumstances and with so many young pups with stronger arms and faster legs chasing him is worthy of our praise and respect. And the way he approaches life—this is not Athlete of the Year; it's Sportsman of the Year—and his job is something admirable. Lee Jenkins wrote about that beautifully.
I was in Denver last month. I asked Manning a year-and-a-half after his free-agency foray, Was there one moment in that process when you said, It's not going to happen?
"Yeah," he said, sitting in the Broncos' cafeteria. "Ashley [his wife] and I actually had those conversations. More than one. Because, you know, you don't want to embarrass yourself. Because, they're signing you and people are thinking they're getting the player they had always seen before. And so, Ashley was the one that was saying, 'Peyton, you've got to try. You've got to try.' With this injury, nothing was happening. Nothing. For weeks. There was no progress. It was so frustrating. And really, I had a peace about it. I had a peace. Because, I had this unbelievable string of health for 20 years—since I was 15 years old as a sophomore in high school. So who was I to complain now that I'm injured? I've given it as good a run as I can give it. I've got kids now. I had a peace about it. So I didn't feel like I had to play to get another win or a touchdown. But she's like, 'You've got to try.' So I was glad that she pushed me to do it. Once I did it, I was going at it, and then I started seeing a little bit of light there. So, yeah, she was the one who kind of pushed me through it."
I appreciate the difference of opinion about the award. There usually is one. Manning didn't win a title this year, and he didn't win a playoff game, and both of those should be factors in the decision. Factors, not musts. As I said, Stone will give his reasoning today in various venues, but I am bullish on the call for the eighth football person to win Sportsman in this, the 60th year of the award.
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Sneak preview.
I'll write some in my Tuesday column about Jamaal Charles and his amazing Sunday in Oakland. But I wondered last night if he had some disappointment in not at least tying the NFL record for touchdowns in a game. He scored his fifth touchdown with 18 minutes to play.
"No, no," he said. "I'm not upset about that at all. That's crazy. What a great day I had. There's no way I can be upset after scoring five touchdowns in a game."
All is right with the world in Kansas City, and with Charles, over the last two games. He has seven touchdowns and 373 total yards, and he's thrust himself into the debate for the awards—Offensive Player of the Year and MVP—that players find most prestigious. We'll look at that in tomorrow's column.
Fine Fifteen
1. Seattle (12-2). Whipped the Giants in a humiliating way. Next time the Seahawks get on a plane could be for the same road trip they just made this weekend—to Newark, but this time for the Super Bowl, six weeks from today. Two regular season games left in the Land of Noise, both early Sunday afternoon Pacific Time starts: Arizona next week, St. Louis in Week 17. Looks to me like the 'Hawks will glide comfortably into home-field through the NFC playoffs.
2. San Francisco (10-4). Colin Kaepernick's last four games: seven touchdowns, one interception, 104.6 rating, 29 carries, 111 yards ... and totally in control.
3. Denver (11-3). Willing to think it was just an off-night against a foe who knows the Broncos so very well, and a coach who knows Peyton Manning so very well. But what I didn't like was Denver's inability to get a big stop, and Manning's plodding last drive. The best offense in football has to be better than that, even without Wes Welker.
4. Carolina (10-4). What an amazing story: If Carolina beats the Saints at home in Week 16 and the Falcons on the road in Week 17, the Panthers win the NFC South, and New Orleans will be either the fifth or sixth seed.
5. New Orleans (10-4). Saints at Panthers Sunday. I do not trust the Saints on the road. Who does, other than Mrs. Drew Brees? Last 10 weeks, Saints, away from the Superdome: 1-4 ... losses by 3, 6, 27 and 11.
6. New England (10-4). Five games in a row, every one on the edge of a cliff. Loss at Carolina. Twin 34-31 wins over Denver, Houston. Gift 27-26 win over Cleveland. And Sunday's game, ending with three failed shots at the end zone, down 24-20 at very loud Miami in the final seconds. So 3-2 in those five, and all it means is the Patriots are in every game, dominating no one.
7. Kansas City (11-3). Two games, 101 points. Even against putrid defenses, that's pretty good.
8. Cincinnati (9-5). This is the kind of year it's been in the NFL: I woke up Sunday thinking the Bengals would beat New England and maybe Denver on neutral fields. Then there was an egg-laying of the highest degree in Pittsburgh. So now, you ask me about the Bengals, who have lost at Cleveland, Baltimore and Pittsburgh this season, and I'm throwing darts.
9. Indianapolis (9-5). America's (Psycho) Team checks in: In the last six, Colts have lost by 30, won by three, lost by 29, won by eight, lost by 14, won by 22. Football is a funny game.
10. Miami (8-6). Ryan Tannehill looks more like the 12-year fix for the Dolphins every Sunday.
11. Arizona (9-5). The nearly fatal onside kick by the Titans could not only have cost the Cardinals a win at Tennessee. It could have cost them a member of the hands team, Larry Fitzgerald, in the mayhem.
12. Chicago (8-6). Just when we were ready to fry The Decision, and the coach and the quarterback, Jay Cutler goes and leads three fourth-quarter touchdown drives in Cleveland to win 38-31.
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13. Baltimore (7-6). Dennis Pitta on DeAndre Levy. Huge matchup tonight at Ford Field in what's going to be a very, very good game—and in what kicks off three hellish games for the Ravens in 14 days: at Detroit, New England, at Cincinnati.
14. Philadelphia (8-6). Some alarming failures on defense, but it's the same D that allowed 21 or fewer in the previous nine games. Lucky for the Eagles, Dallas was Dallas Sunday.
15. (tie) San Diego (7-7). Norv Turner's last 50 games: 25-25. Mike McCoy's first 14 games: 7-7. The Chargers look better than that, I know. But haven't we said that six times a year for the last decade?
15. (tie) Detroit (7-6). No turnovers, and the Lions are sixth or seventh here. The normal turnover-filled game, they're 18th. You tell me which it is tonight. I have no clue.
The Award Section
Offensive Players of the Week
Jamaal Charles, running back, Kansas City. When's the last time a running back caught three touchdown passes in the first 25 minutes of a game? And four for the game? (Okay, Elias: Go scurrying for that one. You know what? Elias will find it. Guaranteed.) Charles caught screens for 49- and 39-yard scores in the first eight minutes, ran for a one-yard TD early in the second, then caught a 16-yard touchdown pass from Alex Smith with 5:42 left in the half. Four touchdowns in the first half, three through the air. For the game, Charles had eight rushes for a modest 20 yards, and an intergalactic 195 receiving yards on eight catches. And the four touchdown receptions.
Ryan Tannehill, quarterback, Miami. Looked like more of the same seven-game losing streak to New England when the Pats broke out to a 10-0 lead in South Florida. But Tannehill (25-37, 312 yards, three touchdowns, no picks, 120.6 rating) led Miami on scoring drives of 82, 48, 66 and 60 yards in the last 33 minutes of the game, completing a 14-yard dart to Marcus Thigpen for what proved to be the game-winner. That's seven straight games with a completion percentage of at least 60 for Tannehill, who outdueled Tom Brady when it mattered most.
Kirk Cousins, quarterback, Washington. Can't imagine a player feeling more pressure entering the game Sunday, with the focus of the Robert Griffin III benching and the spotlight on what Washington might be able to get in trade for Cousins after the season. Knowing that his every move would be watched on tape by the Clevelands and Jacksonvilles of the league, Cousins completed 29 of 45 passes for 381 yards, three touchdowns and two picks (94.8 rating), and drove Washington 80 yards in 13 plays for what appeared to be the tying touchdown at the end of the fourth quarter ... but coach Mike Shanahan chose to go for the two-point conversion and the win, and Cousins threw incomplete.
Matt Cassel, quarterback, Minnesota. This was the Cassel that Scott Pioli staked his Kansas City reputation on four and half years ago: 26 of 35, 382 yards, two touchdowns, one pick and a six-yard quarterback draw for a touchdown. Maybe this is the quarterback the Vikings have been looking for all along.
Defensive Players of the Week
Robert Quinn, defensive end, St. Louis. Who in their right mind had the Saints scoring three points in the first 35 minutes of a game they had to have … and in a dome no less? St. Louis pestered Drew Brees all day, and Quinn had much to do with that, with two sacks (including a forced fumble), a tackle for loss and consistent pressure. For the year, Quinn has an NFC-leading 15 sacks.
Michael Thomas, cornerback, Miami. They write TV pilots about the week Thomas just had (see the lead to this column), and people watch them. Thomas was yanked off the 49ers' practice squad on Monday afternoon, flew cross-country and arrived in Miami at midnight, learned bits of the defense during the week, was activated for the huge game against New England to play special teams, and was inserted in the regular defense when Brent Grimes was hurt in the fourth quarter. He broke up what looked to be a winning touchdown pass from Tom Brady to Danny Amendola on the last series, and, on the final play for the game, picked off Brady in the end zone to clinch the 24-20 Miami victory. "I am numb," he told me. "I cannot believe this happened."
Zack Bowman, cornerback, Chicago. In a game the Bears had to have, they got awful quarterbacking from Jay Cutler in his return to the starting lineup and needed two very big plays from Bowman to escape Cleveland with a win. With Jason Campbell driving the Browns in a 3-3 game in the first half, Bowman picked his first pass off at the Bears' 40. And on the second play of the second half, Campbell special-delivered a throw to Bowman, who picked it off and ran 43 yards for the touchdown to give the Bears a 17-10 lead. Chicago won by that same margin, 38-31.
Corey Liuget, defensive tackle, San Diego. His rush through a double-team with less than six minutes to play at Denver, knocking Peyton Manning's right arm off course, gave San Diego an easy interception and clinched a huge Thursday night upset. Liuget wants attention for his play, and for the play of the Charger defensive front, and he certainly deserves it based on his performance over the past three months.
Special Teams Player of the Week
Kendall Hunter, running back, San Francisco. In a terrific heads-up play, Hunter sprinted downfield on a kickoff with the Niners trying to close out a game at Tampa Bay with a 23-14 lead and fewer than five minutes left. The Bucs tried to execute a reverse, and Hunter was not fooled. He popped Eric Page trying to hand it off, the ball bounced free, and there was Hunter. He grabbed the loose ball and rolled in from two yards out. Ballgame. I just love how alert Hunter was not only in not falling for the reverse, but in following the ball.
Coach of the Week
Joe Philbin, head coach, Miami. Might not just be Coach of the Week. Might be Coach of the Year. Since Jonathan Martin threw his tray of pasta down in the Dolphins cafeteria and stalked off the team, followed soon by the suspension of Richie Incognito, sending the team into mayhem, Miami is 5-2 ... including Sunday's clutch 24-20 win over New England. The two losses have been by a total of seven points (to Tampa Bay and Carolina), and it's very clear this is a well-grounded team with a mature approach. You've got to hand it to Philbin for keeping the team intact at such a fragile time.
Goats of the Week
Tony Romo, quarterback, Dallas. In the annals of blown ends of games in Tony Romo history, this one has to ascend to No. 1. Romo threw one interception with 2:50 to go and the Cowboys nursing a 36-31 lead trying to run out the clock ... and a second interception with 1:24 left and the Cowboys trying to come back from a 37-36 deficit. This one was as ugly as they come, and the ramifications could involve jobs. Multiple jobs.
Garrett Hartley, kicker, New Orleans. Down 27-16 in the final seconds, the Saints needed a 26-yard field goal by Hartley, an onside-kick recovery and a touchdown to send the game to overtime. The field goal was the gimme, the lock. But Hartley shanked it left. That's a mistake you simply cannot make.
Eli Manning, quarterback, New York Giants. Hate to pile on, but another in a long line of brutal performances this season, a five-interception job against Seattle, leaves him with 25 picks for the season … and a mind-boggling 81 in the last 62 games. An embarrassing 23-0 loss to the Seahawks was Sunday's result in an increasingly horrible 5-9 season.
Quotes of the Week
"It's my fault."
—Dallas quarterback Tony Romo, who took the blame for throwing the interception with 2:50 to play and the Cowboys nursing a lead over Green Bay. It was a play coach Jason Garrett said should have been a running play.
"I got the funniest email last night. Did you get it too? Come on, Peter. If you think you're going to hit me up for $2,500, you've got the wrong guy."
—Seattle quarterback Russell Wilson, to The MMQB's Jenny Vrentas, in the Seahawks' locker room after the 23-0 win over the Giants.
My email account got hacked, and so I guess all the people I've emailed pretty much my whole adult life got an email saying that I was in Spain currently, with a cousin who needs $2,500 for emergency kidney surgery, and could they please send it in a hurry.
And I was so counting on Russell Wilson to help.
"I doubt that any man can come back from this."
—Michael Irvin, on the NFL Network pregame show Thursday, on the football future of Robert Griffin III after he was benched for the final three games of the season by Washington coach Mike Shanahan.
Retire now, Robert. Just walk away. You were the second player picked in the draft 20 months ago, and you're just 23 years old, and you led your team to an unexpected playoff berth last season, but you've had a lousy, injury-plagued stretch, and Michael Irvin says you can't come back after a coach sits you for the final three games of a football season.
Elaine Benes says it best about 19 seconds into this clip:
"A hundred and 66 thousand dollars a week to do nothing."
—ProFootballTalk.com's Mike Florio, on the luckiest man in the NFL, Josh Freeman, who is making $2 million for 12 weeks of mostly sitting out games, inactive, with Minnesota. Freeman has played in one game since being signed to great fanfare by the Vikings after he was cut by Tampa Bay. And his average pay per week, as Florio said, is $166,667.
Stat of the Week
Not trying to give you Steelers fans a lump of coal so close to Christmas. But this from The MMQB columnist Andrew Brandt: "I don't think there's a team in the last three years that's mortgaged the future as much as the Pittsburgh Steelers."
At the NFL's one-day meeting in Dallas last week, the league projected the 2014 salary at $126.3 million, a rise of just over $3 million from this year's cap. That's not going to do the Steelers any favors. As their contracts stand now for 2014—according to the underrated site overthecap.com—the Steelers are set to spend two-thirds of their cap on seven players: Ben Roethlisberger ($18.9 million cap number), LaMarr Woodley ($13.6 million), Ike Taylor ($11.9 million), Lawrence Timmons ($11.8 million), Troy Polamalu ($10.9 million), Heath Miller ($9.5 million) and Antonio Brown ($8.5 million).
Is this alarming, to have seven players take up 67.4 percent of your salary cap? I should say so. I calculated the top-seven cap cost for every team in the league, and the Steelers' situation is the worst. By the numbers:
|Cap cost of top seven players
|Percentage of cap
|Cutting Ike Taylor would save $7M
|Miles Austin: an $8.3m anchor
|St. Louis
|Finnegan not playing like $10M man
|Flacco only $14.8M of the big number
|Brittle Delmas due $6.5M
|New Orleans
|Cutting Will Smith would save $11.6M
|Cutting Cliff Avril would save $7.0M
|Combined cap of Schaub/Foster: $23.0M
|Fitzgerald takes up $18.0M
|Kansas City
|Alex Smith due $7.5M, all base salary
Factoid of the Week That May Interest Only Me
One of the things I learned in my recent foray into officialdom (the three-part series can be found here) was that each week the 119 NFL officials are required to take a test. The test generally consists of 10 questions on paper and five video questions. I was curious about it, and I asked the head linesman on Gene Steratore's crew, Wayne Mackie, to educate me. So we took out the test and went to question No. 1, "2013 Regular Season Week 10 Test: FG/PAT."
Here is the exact question:
"A 4-2 on B24. With 0:03 remaining in the 4th quarter, Team A is behind 17-14. They line up for a field-goal attempt from the B31 and the kick is good. At the snap B7 who was on the line of scrimmage pushed B8 into LG A5. Time expired on the play."
It's 4th-and-2 o on the opponents' 24. Team A attempts a field-goal from the 31, and at the snap, one opponent pushed another opponent into the left guard on the line of scrimmage. The kick is good. Tie game, 17-all.
So what is the call, I asked Mackie.
Said Mackie: "B pushes another player into the offensive player. This year, that is a foul. That is a 15-yard foul, a la Bill Belichick in that New England game against the Jets. Two things happen in that play. The field goal was good. So, you have an option, as the offense. You can keep the three points for the field goal, tie the game up as you go into overtime. Or, you can take the penalty for 15 yards since you're at the 24, you go half the distance to the 12, and it's a first down, but it's an extension because time ran out on the play. One untimed down. If you want to try to win the game you can do that, take that chance, because you are closer to the goal line. I don't know why you would want to do that. If I'm on the 1 or 2, maybe. But the 12? I doubt it. If it happened with 12 minutes left, let's say, I'll tell you right now, they'll take those three points on the board. You're going 1st-and-10 from the 12."
Mr. Starwood Preferred Member Travel Note of the Week
I went nowhere this week. Could I have a week off from this item in the column? No? Well then, let's dig into the vault of good travel notes. How about this one, from July 26, 2010. It's the note that was responsible for changing the name of this specific part of the column:
The Westin Hotel/Michigan Avenue in Chicago has long been a hotel of choice for me, because of its proximity to everything in such a great city. Last week, on my last travel leg of vacation, it was also the scene of something I never could have expected: an argument that, in 10 seconds, almost escalated into a hotel-lobby brawl.
There are three elevators in the lobby of the Westin, and at rush-hour check-in last Tuesday, two were out of service. So when my wife and I got to the bank of elevators around 6 p.m., there were 15 or so people waiting for the one working lift. We waited two, three, four minutes. Now there were 25 or 30 people waiting. And then a 35ish man wedged in to the left of the crowd waiting for the elevator. He looked at the line of people and looked peeved. We all were, of course. Then the door opened and 10 or 12 people came off the one working elevator. And the 35ish man took three quick steps to the elevator.
"Hey, hey, hey," I said. "Come on, buddy. That's not right."
The guy stopped. He looked at me. Angry. "Don't tell me what to do," he snarled. "I wasn't going on."
"Yes you were," I said. "I saw what you were doing. That's not right."
He took a couple of steps toward me.
"I'm a Starwood Preferred member," he said angrily.
Like that made cutting the line okay.
"You're also an a------," I said.
I obviously shouldn't have said that, but he deserved it. Now he walked the final three steps toward me. "You wanna step outside?" Mr. Starwood Preferred said. He bumped my chest hard. "People who use that word are looking for a fight," Mr. Starwood Preferred said. "People who use that word to me, I go outside with. You wanna go outside?"
Now the elevator was full, and the door closed.
"No, I don't," I said.
He was breathing hard on me. "You're a big talker," he said, stepping back a step or two.
"And you're still an a------," I said. Oh, so clever.
He stepped toward me again. Almost simultaneously, a front-desk gal near the bank of elevators chirped, "I can take a few people up the service elevator!" So my wife sidestepped the guy. I walked toward the door, me staring at Mr. Starwood Preferred the whole way. "--- you, ------------," Mr. Starwood Preferred hissed at me.
"Have a nice day," I said, and boarded the service elevator.
I don't know exactly why—it's not testosterone, I don't think—but I almost wish Mr. Starwood Preferred had taken a swing at me. Even if he'd pummeled me (and he may well have), he'd have known that at least one person out of 30 sniffed out the real idiot in the crowd. Then again, I like my nose unbroken.
Tweets of the Week
"I just told my kids time for bed. They are ignoring me like I am the cowboys defense."
—@dkaplanSBJ, Daniel Kaplan of Sports Business Journal, after the Cowboys gave up 34 points in the second half to Green Bay and lost 37-36.
"This is the worst loss I've seen and I have been covering the Cowboys since 1997."
—@clarencehilljr, the longtime Fort Worth Star-Telegram Cowboys beat man, after the Packers came from way back to beat Dallas in Arlington on Sunday.
" 'It's so unlike Tony Romo to throw an interception at the end of the game.'
—@FrankCaliendo, the professional funnyman.
"It's Dec. 12 and every one of the 53 players on the #Eagles' roster is at practice with a helmet on. #sportsscience"
—@GeoffMosherCSN, ComcastSportsNet reporter Geoff Mosher, from Eagles practice on Thursday.
I am starting to believe in all this new health stuff—the drinks, the different practice modes and days—that Chip Kelly brought from Oregon. This good health might be a coincidence. It might not be.
"So, Juan Uribe and Nick Saban just inked deals for the same amount per year..."
—@jimabbottum31, former Angel and Yankee left-hander Jim Abbott.
Do the math: Uribe, two years and $15 million with the Dodgers, on Saturday; Saban, an estimated $7 million per year through 2020 with Alabama, on Friday.
Ten Things I Think I Think
1. I think this is what I liked about Week 15:
a. Philip Rivers' bolo tie.
b. Philip Rivers' explosive, cheerleader-like enthusiasm on the NFL Network set after the 27-20 upset of the Broncos. Spare me the stuff about "I hate Rivers because he yells at everybody on the field." How would you not want to play on that guy's team?
c. Philip Rivers' early chemistry with Keenan Allen, who is looking more and more like the offensive rookie of the year.
d. Chargers corner Shareece Wright, burned regularly entering Thursday night. He sure was in the right place a lot against Peyton Manning, with seven tackles and two passes defensed.
e. The FOX graphic before the Atlanta-Washington kickoff. "Recent Washington Shutdowns" was the headline, and Stephen Strasburg, the government closure and Robert Griffin III were in three boxes beneath. Loved it.
f. Jay Glazer's video of the illegal coach on the field in Pittsburgh-Miami. Uh, that's not supposed to happen. Especially in a game involving the Steelers.
g. The hands of Buffalo safety Aaron Williams, niftily picking off Chad Henne early.
h. Steven Jackson, punishing the defense the way he was supposed to be doing all season. Check out the absolute steam-rolling of Washington's Josh Wilson.
i. Throw of the Day: Under heavy pressure, Matt Cassel stepped up in the pocket against Philadelphia and launched a ball 45 yards in the air right into the hands of a sprinting Greg Jennings. Touchdown, a 57-yard touchdown.
j. Cassel, first quarter, nine of nine, 163 yards with a touchdown.
k. Textbook legal hit on the quarterback by Sean Weatherspoon, leveling Kirk Cousins a millisecond after releasing the ball.
l. Cousins, with a nice touchdown pass downfield on the run to Fred Davis.
m. Adrian Clayborn, chasing down Colin Kaepernick from behind, for the kind of sack the Bucs drafted him to get.
n. Robert Quinn is playing himself into Defensive Player of the Year contention.
o. Tramon Williams, still a superior corner—even if sometimes he doesn't play like it.
2. I think this is what I didn't like about Week 15:
a. Denver's cornerback depth. Rookie Kayvon Webster's gotten his share of burn marks, but now he's gone for at least a week after thumb surgery.
b. Time of possession for Denver: 21 minutes. At home? The best offense in football went three-and-out three straight series for the first time this season against a previously 6-7 team.
c. Madness of Being a Chargers Fan Dept.: San Diego's 32-32 in its last 64.
d. Jay Cutler throwing into traffic on the first series of the game at Cleveland. Interception.
e. Come on, Texans. Have a little pride.
f. Compete for the ball, Jordan Cameron, and that wouldn't have been an interception.
g. John Denney, for snapping a ball into the facemask of holder Brandon Field on what should been a cake Miami field goal by Caleb Sturgis.
h. Catch the ball in the fourth quarter, when the game is big, Greg Little.
i. Giants: First 11 possession, five first downs.
j. Eli Manning, now the Giants' all-time interceptions leader. Five Sunday.
k. I love Drew Brees, but in the red zone throwing into triple-coverage for Jimmy Graham? I mean, you don't throw into triple-coverage for Jerry Rice. Terrible decision, and the Rams made him pay.
l. I do not think there was indisputable visual evidence for Walt Coleman to reverse the Tramon Williams interception in Dallas. It was close, and the ball may have moved on the ground. But indisputable? I didn't see it.
3. I think the Rams can cross off one more positional need off their 2014 draft to-do list: running back. Zac Stacy (133 yards) was tremendous against formerly formidable New Orleans, and he's just the kind of back Jeff Fisher likes: some speed, but enough power to make people bounce off.
4. I think the maddening thing about what we're seeing in Pittsburgh is the grace and power of Le'Veon Bell and the deep-threat ability of Antonio Brown ... and the fact that it's almost certainly going to be too little, too late. The Steelers have to go to Green Bay and likely face Aaron Rodgers Sunday in his return to the lineup, and whatever tiny mathematical chance they have to finish 8-8 and in the playoffs would be gone with a loss. But lest anyone think they should blow it up and dump Ben Roethlisberger, think again. My Stat of the Week tells you the Steelers will have to do some major surgery on the roster and cap come March. But this is a contending team with holes, which you can say about 20 to 24 teams in the league right now.
5. I think I'm hearing some crazy things about the quarterback race at the top of the draft. Namely: I know one team that, as of now, thinks it's no sure thing Teddy Bridgewater will be the top quarterback on its board (and this is a team that could take a quarterback in the first round). Moreover, this team believes Central Florida's Blake Bortles or Johnny Manziel could be the top quarterback on the board. That's right. Blake Bortles. We don't even know if Bortles, a redshirt junior, will return for his fifth season at UCF. He will reportedly make his decision after Central Florida's Fiesta Bowl game against Baylor.
6. I think these are my thoughts about the tumult in Washington:
a. My friend Ian Rapoport reported on NFL Network that six GMs said they wouldn't give better than a second-round pick for Kirk Cousins in trade after the season. The time to ask that question isn't on Dec. 11, when Cousins has been in mothballs for a year. The time to ask the question is after Cousins plays three games. It'll be apparent then, and only then, if Cousins is worth a first-round pick to some team. If he repeats his performance of Sunday in the last two games, it's folly to think no team, say, between 20 and 32 with a quarterback need wouldn't consider a deal. And I said "consider," not "make."
b. I continue to think Cleveland, using the late-first-round pick acquired from Indy in the Trent Richardson deal, is a realistic spot for Cousins if he plays very well in the final three games. Offensive coordinator Norv Turner wants more of a standard dropback quarterback than a run-around guy like Johnny Manziel. If the Browns could use their first first-rounder on another need position (wideout, corner) and the pick in the 20s on Cousins, that would give Turner a chance to get a young veteran ready for opening day faster than he could with anyone Cleveland would pick in a May draft four months from opening day.
c. Wouldn't be surprised to see Washington owner Dan Snyder sniff around Art Briles, to see if he could recreate the Baylor magic Briles and Griffin made. But I can't see it happening. I get the sense there's already enough feeling in the Washington locker room that Griffin gets special treatment. Why feed into that more by importing a special coach for him?
d. Not that he'd ask me for advice, but what I'd say to Griffin is: Tell your father not to give interviews with his opinion about the team's offense, and tell your father you'll meet him after the game, outside the locker room. I just don't think the NFL is the place for helicopter parents.
e. For his own good, and for the sake of the won-loss record, Snyder should draw a personal line between himself and the players. Over and over again, coaches are annoyed with some stars getting taken into the sanctuary and some not. It's just not a good team thing.
f. I'd love to see David Shaw get a shot at RG3. I doubt he'd consider it, because I think the only place the well-satisfied Stanford coach would go in the NFL is an absolutely ideal one, and that's not Washington right now. Wouldn't mind Jay or Jon Gruden as the Shanahan heir either.
7. I think this will be the sixth straight season without a repeat rushing champion, unless Adrian Peterson can do something superhuman on his bad foot in the last two weeks. LeSean McCoy has a 122-yard lead over Peterson, and McCoy has games against generous run fronts (Chicago, at Dallas) remaining. Not since LaDainian Tomlinson won consecutive rushing titles in 2006 and '07 has a man won two straight. Since then: Adrian Peterson, Chris Johnson, Arian Foster, Maurice Jones-Drew and Peterson have won the titles.
8. I think I say this every year around the middle of December, but the ballot for the Hall of Fame is on my desk (I have been looking at it nearly every day, puzzling over my last three or four spots), and this is such a tough year for the cut from 25 semifinalists to the 15 finalists the committee of 46 will consider in for election on Feb. 1 in New York. I think it's because there are so many of the so-called marginal men I feel strongly about—Aeneas Williams, Jimmy Johnson, Kevin Greene, Jerome Bettis—and so many of those on the ballot I believe are long overdue.
9. I think, among the many difficult decisions the 46 Pro Football Hall of Fame voters face in winnowing the list for the class of 2014 is the Morten Andersen question, eloquently discussed by voter Len Pasquarelli. Shouldn't a man who scored in 360 consecutive games (the equivalent of 22.5 seasons) be strongly considered, particularly with a résumé as good as Andersen's?
10. I think these are my non-NFL thoughts of the week:
a. Newtown, a year later. Nothing substantive done about gun control in Washington, and at the state level 37 states increasing mental-health budgets in 2013 and five beefing up background checks. Not nearly enough. Overall, a sin.
b. Scott Price with a story we all should read about "What We Lost" in little Jack Pinto.
c. Read that, and then tell me we've done the people of Newtown right.
d. Just when you think Martin Brodeur is ready for the pasture, he goes and shuts out a pretty good team (Tampa Bay, 3-0, Saturday). That's his 124th shutout. That's 1.55 full seasons of nothing but shutouts.
e. I like some of the things I read from Josh Yohe of the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review on the Shawn Thornton assault of Brooks Orpik last week, so I asked him to weigh in on the future of fighting in hockey. I am anti-fighting. Here is Yohe's view: "Penguins defenseman Brooks Orpik is still having headaches and doesn't remember what happened on Dec. 7 in Boston. Those who witnessed it will never forget. Orpik, only minutes after delivering a controversial hit that was deemed legal, was stalked by Boston enforcer Shawn Thornton for three consecutive shifts. Thornton continually offered to fight, and Orpik declined. Finally, Thornton slew-footed him to the ice from behind before delivering a barrage of punches that knocked Orpik unconscious for 45 seconds.
"The NFL (eliminating helmet-to-helmet hits) and MLB (collisions at home plate are on the verge of being extinct) have made giant strides to make their respective sports safer. What has hockey done? And really, the bigger question remains, do NHL officials and players want their sport safer? Even after the NHL leveled Thornton with a 15-game suspension, Pittsburgh general manager Ray Shero and coach Dan Bylsma exclaimed that this number was suitable, and both praised Thornton for being 'an honest hockey player.' Do honest hockey players commit assault on the ice because an opponent refuses to drop the gloves? Orpik, who is out indefinitely, might have a different take on Thornton's honesty. Two years ago, I conducted a poll of 15 Penguins, asking if fighting still belonged in the NHL. Fourteen of them—even Sidney Crosby—said fighting remained an integral part of policing the game from dirty hits. The one player who believed the time had come to eliminate fighting was, of all people, Brooks Orpik."
f. Thanks, Josh.
g. Charles Barkley is fun to listen to.
h. It is very hard to walk by a television with The Big Lebowski on and not just sit there until the end of it. Saturday was one of those times, and if this were the offseason, I would have succumbed.
i. For Tyler Tettleton's sake, go Bobcats. Beat East Carolina.
j. Coffeenerdness: Ground Central, the East 52nd Street coffee haven in Manhattan I recently praised, now gets more of it: Not only is the espresso heavenly, but also there's a library-like reading and computing den, very cozy, in back. It's an oasis of sanity in Midtown. And when Midtown is full of tourists, it's almost useless to go to Starbucks. At least half the time, they get anything but "grande black coffee" wrong.
k. Beernerdness: Will stock up on a couple of Christmas beers this week. Suggestions?
Who I Like Tonight
Detroit 23, Baltimore 20. Remember a couple of weeks ago, when we were promised a Game of the Year on Monday, New Orleans at Seattle, and it fizzled, 27-7 by halftime? Tonight's going to be different. Ravens, 7-6, playing for the AFC's sixth seed with strong competition, at Lions, 7-6, playing for the NFC North title with strong competition. I expect the run games to struggle for both sides, so this could come down to whether Matthew Stafford has enough time to find Calvin Johnson and Nate Burleson, and whether Joe Flacco can repeat the success of the last half of the fourth quarter in the weather in Baltimore last week, when the addition of rehabbed tight end Dennis Pitta was the key in the offense's coming alive enough to beat Minnesota. Key player here: I'll give you a clue. He entered Week 15 with the NFL lead in interceptions. Give up? Linebacker DeAndre Levy (with six), who will be vital in disrupting what Flacco likes to do in the middle of the field. I like the Fairley/Suh combo platter to make the difference, and Levy to make a couple of big plays, in the cacophonous den of the Lions tonight.
The Adieu Haiku
One simple question
in the Hall of Fame cutdown:
Where is Joe Klecko?


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Job description
- Entry level
- No Education
- Salary to negotiate
- Lexington Park
Restaurant Team Member - Crew (961 - Lex Park) (19031086)
At Chipotle, we've created something special: a better place to eat and work. Many employees start just expecting a paycheck, but end up with a rewarding career. We provide exceptional training and a clear career path – over 80% of our managers got promoted from Crew.
What's in it for you:
- Tuition assistance (up to $5,250 a year)
- Free food (yes, really FREE)
- Medical, dental, and vision insurance
- Paid breaks
- Paid time off
- Holiday closures
- Full time and part time opportunities
- Opportunities for advancement (80% of managers started as crew)
- Customized college degree programs that can be completed in as little as 18 months, for as low as $250 a year*
- Competitive compensation, including stock and company car allowance for our highest-performing managers (Restaurateurs)
What we're looking for:
- Someone with a friendly, enthusiastic attitude
- Someone that loves to help and serve others (both customers and team members)
- Someone ready to learn how to cook (a lot)
We prepare real food by hand every day in our restaurants. No freezers, microwaves or can openers to be found.
We welcome experienced restaurant professionals and novices alike. We'll provide the training you need to feel confident working at any station – grill, cashier, prep, salsa and expo. We take pride in our exceptional customer service and it's up to each of our team members to create the friendly atmosphere that our customers expect and enjoy. So, whether you have experience as a dishwasher, cashier, server, host, bartender, cook, prep cook, FOH/BOH or no experience at all, we're always looking for passionate and enthusiastic people to join our team.
At Chipotle, you'll be part of a team that is working to cultivate a better world. If that sounds like something you would like to be a part of, apply today.
Requirements (the fine print):
- You have to be at least 16 years old to work at Chipotle
- You need to be able to communicate in the primary language(s) of the work location
*Receive up to $5,250 from Chipotle in tuition assistance and up to $5,185 in federal grants each year. Combined with up to 44 earned credit hours from on-the-job training at Chipotle, you could earn your degree for as little as $250 a year.
Primary Location: Maryland - Lexington Park - 0961 - Lex Park-(00961)
Work Location:
0961 - Lex Park-(00961)
22720 Three Notch Road
Lexington Park 20653
- customer service
About the company
At Chipotle, we're committed to creating an environment that's challenging and fun, but mostly, fulfilling. It starts with creating a culture where opportunities for growth are everywhere, and hard work is acknowledged and rewarded with competitive compensation, bonus opportunities and great benefits. We promote from within and create a supportive environment where our employees are given the tools to succeed. It's a well-rounded job, for folks looking for more than a place to work, but a rewarding career.


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Cha Soba / Green Tea Noodles - 1/2 pkt
Firm Tofu - 6 sliced 1" wide
Carrots - 1 cup Julienne cut
Zucchini - 1 cup Julienne cut
Ginger - 1 tsp Julienne cut
Red Chili Powder - 1/2 tsp
Toasted Sesame Seeds - 1 tbsp
Soya Sauce
White Rice Vinegar
In a small bowl mix 2 tbsp of soya sauce, 1 tbsp of rice vinegar and the red chili powder. In this mixture soak the tofu piece and keep aside.
Follow the directions on the package to make the soba, once done remove to a colander, add some ice cubes to the noodles and let it sit until you are ready to serve. Do add salt to the water when cooking the soba.
In a saute pan add 1/2 tsp of oil and add the carrots and stir fry for 3 to 4 minutes.In a small bowl add about 3 tbsp of mirin. Remove the Carrots and put in the bowl with the mirin. Drain the mirin before moving the carrots to a serving dish.
In the same saute pan after the carrots are removed, add 1/2 tsp of oil and then add the ginger. Saute for a minute and then add the zucchini, and a pinch of salt. Stir fry 3 to 4 minutes, add 1 tsp of rice vinegar, Remove from heat once the vinegar evaporates. You won't need to add salt because of the vinegar but if you feel you want to, just add a pinch. Remove from heat to a serving dish.
In a saute pan heat about 2 tsp of oil, once the oil heats up gently place the soaked tofu, turn every 3 to 4 minutes until all the sides are a nice brown. Remove from heat to a serving dish.
Now that all the side dishes are ready, place the drained cold noodles to a serving bowl.
Now get all your sides next to it - the Tofu, the Ginger- zucchini Stir fry, Stir Fried Carrots, a small bowl of toasted Sesame seeds, a small bowl of soya sauce, (optional) Roasted Nori - crumbled or small stripes.
To plate it, drizzle very little soya sauce on the noodles, topped with the toasted sesame seeds and Nori. Serve the sides and enjoy!
I used Hakubaku Organic Cha Noodles that I received it as part of the Foodbuzz Tastemaker Program.
Read about some of the ingredients I used:
White Rice Vinegar


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Mexico divided over memorial to drug-war victims
MEXICO CITY (AP) — Mexico, a country suffering the turmoil of a drug war, can't agree on how to honor the victims of a six-year assault on organized crime that has taken as many as 70,000 lives.
The government's official monument was dedicated Friday, four months after its completion, in a public event where relatives of the missing chased after the dignitaries in tears, pleading for help in finding their loved ones.
Only some victims' rights groups recognize the monument, while others picked an entirely different monument to place handkerchiefs painted with names and personal messages in protest of the official site, which does not bear a single victim's name.
"Other organizations asked us for other space because they're against this one," Interior Secretary Miguel Angel Osorio Chong said at the official dedication of the government monument, which consists of steel panels bearing quotes from famous writers and thinkers. "What took us so long was trying to get agreement among the groups, and we failed."
The memorial dispute arises from the fact that the Mexican government has yet to fully document cases of drug war dead and missing, despite constant pleas from rights groups, the public and orders from Mexico's own transparency agency. The previous government of Felipe Calderon stopped counting drug war dead in September of 2011 and the new government of Enrique Pena Nieto has only provided monthly statistics for December, and January and February of this year. The estimates of the dead range from 60,000 to more than 100,000, and the missing from 5,000 to 27,000.
Jose Merino, a political science professor at Mexico Autonomous Institute of Technology, said only when the government documents every victim's case and acknowledges that the violence continues will people accept a memorial.
"We haven't reached the point where we can agree on what is hurting us and why," Merino said. "The job of the government is to study all these cases and not pile up stones for memorials."
Calderon, who at first dismissed most of the drug-war dead as criminals, proposed the memorial last year after a long process of meeting with victims' families and taking heat for his earlier remarks.
Javier Sicilia, a well-known poet whose son's death sparked a nationwide movement for peace, immediately opposed the idea because it is built on a military installation, and many Mexicans consider the military complicit in drug-war abuses and disappearances. Instead, Sicilia has organized the group that has taken over the recently built Pillar of Light, a tower designed to commemorate the country's independence, but that became a symbol of corruption because of its high costs and construction delays. Other known writers and filmmakers have joined Sicilia in his petition.
The memorial dedicated Friday is supported by two of Mexico's largest victims' rights groups. Sports magnate Alejandro Marti founded Mexico SOS after his teenage son was kidnapped and killed despite reportedly paying a ransom. He acknowledged at the ceremony that government still owes an official list of the victims.
It is also supported by Isabel Miranda de Wallace, who founded Stop the Kidnapping after her son disappeared, never to be heard from again. She ran unsuccessfully for mayor of Mexico City last year as a candidate for Calderon's conservative National Action Party.
The land for the memorial belonged to the Defense Department but was given to a governmental body that helps victims and relatives. Over four reflective pools, a group of builders and architects, working with three anti-crime organizations, erected 64 panels of steel that appear to be rusty. Quotes from Colombian novelist Gabriel Garcia Marquez or Martin Luther King Jr. are cut in to the corners of some of the steel plates.
Most panels are blank so people can write in the names of thir relatives, said Ricardo Lopez Martin, one of the architects who designed the memorial. Lopez Martin said it's not possible to make Mexico's monument like the Vietnam or Holocaust memorials, because some relatives are still scared or feel they could be stigmatized by having their family members identified among the dead.
"It is sensitive and there is no database," he said. "We have talked with many victims' relatives and many of them say 'I don't want my son's name to appear next to a drug trafficker or a criminal.'"


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Join the Electronic Frontier Foundation (and me) tomorrow, April 4th, for 404 Day — a nationwide call to action against internet censorship in libraries and schools. The EFF has partnered with the MIT Center for Civic Media and the National Coalition Against Censorship to provide a digital teach-in which I will be a part of.
The digital teach-in will be from noon-1pm PST (3-4pm EST). Speakers include yours truly as well as Deborah Caldwell-Stone (Director of Intellectual Freedom at the American Library Association) and Chris Peterson (MIT's Center for Civic Media and the National Coalition Against Censorship). EFF's April Glaser is moderating. We'll discuss banned websites, filtering software, legal challenges, the Children's Internet Protection Act, and more. You'll be able to find a link to the event, a Google Hangout, on EFF's site prior to the event. The teach-in has its own Google+ event page up now.
It's rare that I get to speak about something that reminds me of why I became a librarian. Talking about censorship does just that. For more on 404 Day, see EFF's blog post. And if you yourself want to blog tomorrow for 404 Day, sharing your own stories and thoughts, email [email protected] to spread the word about your post.


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Maggie's is a well-established charity. Named after the late Maggie Keswick Jencks, the centres are based on her idea of an alternative environment to a hospital where cancer patients and their families can take time to discuss and learn more about the illness and the situation that the patient and surrounding family and friends may face.
Maggie's ensures that, prior to starting construction of a new centre, the construction and running cost for the first two years is raised. As a result, in Nottingham, the community were aware of the prospect of a local Maggie's centre from an early stage and were heavily involved in fund raising for the new centre. The Nottingham Post targeted raising £500,000 through local community fundraising initiatives, but actually raised a staggering £640,000. Several major donors bought the total to the much needed £3 million.
Laura Lee, Maggie's Chief Executive thanked the community by writing in the Nottingham Post; 'The centre was made possible by the people of Nottingham and belongs to them. The campaign with the paper didn't just raise the funds for the centre; it rallied the community in support of Maggie' s and created a great sense of ownership within people towards their local Maggie's.' Local fund raising activities included parachute jumps to coffee mornings to the Post's reverse auction.
The awkward sloping site, unlikely to be needed by the hospital for future clinical buildings or extensions sites, was chosen for its visibility and adjacency to the Oncology Department and Breast Institute (BDP Architects).
Maggie's Nottingham, serving the East Midlands Cancer Network (approx. 1.3 million people), like all of the other centres across the UK, is for anyone who is affected by cancer. It offers psychological, emotional and practical support for those with cancer or their friends and family. This area alone sees over 4,000 new cases of cancer a year.
The design of the centre is deliberately domestic rather than institutional. There is no reception desk. On entry visitors can be seen from the office, in turn visible to them and easily accessed are the library and kitchen, the heart of a Maggie's Centre. Other accommodation includes two meeting rooms either side of the kitchen and upstairs a large meeting/activity /yoga room, counselling rooms, IT area and a lie-down room. The basement store also acts as a plenum for the ASHP. The interior fit-out was created by Paul Smith and includes lots of colour, patterns, artwork and found objects - acting as a conversation breaker for visitors to the centre. Sir Paul Smith said people would either love or hate the furniture and décor but the important thing would be that it created a welcoming environment in which people could get to know others who were also affected by cancer.
The centre head, Mandy McMahan, describes the design:
"Design and architecture are very important to the Maggie's Centre and to visitors because from the outside the building is striking and stunning, when people enter they come with a certain curiosity and what they're met with is this beautiful light and this openness and beautiful lines. They feel a sense of being somewhere special which is uplifting to them and makes them feel special as well"
Since its opening at the beginning of November 2011, around 7,000 visitor's have been to the new centre in Nottingham. The centre head has gathered a few of their reactions:
'It feels like home (then most going on to comment on how they wish it was their home!)'
'Light and open, yet still cosy'
'Feels like we are floating, up and above watching the world go by'
'A sanctuary, relaxing and uplifting'


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The highlights of my time at Mandiant involved two sets of responsibilities.
First, as CSO, I enjoyed working with my small but superb security team, consisting of Doug Burks, Derek Coulsen, Dani Jackson, and Scott Runnels. They showed that "a small team of A+ players can run circles around a giant team of B and C players."
Second, as a company spokesperson, I survived the one-of-a-kind ride that was the APT1 report. I have to credit our intel and consulting teams for the content, and our marketing and government teams for keeping me pointed in the right direction during the weeks of craziness that ensued.
At FireEye I transitioned to a strategist role because I was spending so much time talking to legislators and administration officials. I enjoyed working with another small but incredibly effective team: government relations. Back by the combined FireEye-Mandiant intel team, we helped policy makers better understand the digital landscape and, more importantly, what steps to take to mitigate various risks.
Where do I go from here?
Twenty years ago last month I started my first role in the information warfare arena, as an Air Force intelligence officer assigned to Air Intelligence Agency at Security Hill in San Antonio, Texas. Since that time I've played a small part in the "cyber wars," trying to stop bad guys while empowering good guys.
I've known for several years that my life was heading in a new direction. It took me a while, but now I understand that I am not the same person who used to post hundreds of blog entries per year, and review 50 security books per year, and write security books and articles, and speak to reporters, and testify before Congress, and train thousands of students worldwide.
That mission is accomplished. I have new missions waiting.
My near-term goal is to identify opportunities in the security space which fit with my current interests. These include:
- Promoting open source software to protect organizations of all sizes
- Advising venture capitalists on promising security start-ups
- Helping companies to write more effective security job descriptions and to interview and select the best candidates available
|My main instructor, Nick Masi (L) and his instructor, Eyal Yanilov (R)
Anyone who has spoken with me about these changes has sensed my enthusiasm. I've also likely encouraged them to join me at my current Krav Maga school, First Defense in Herndon, VA. Tell them Richard sent you!
Change, while often uncomfortable, is a powerful growth accelerator. I am thankful that my family, and my wife Amy in particular, are so supportive of my initiatives.
If you would like to join me in any of these endeavors, please leave a comment here with your email address, or email me via taosecurity at gmail dot com. Best wishes to those remaining at FireEye!


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Learn more about the Honda Odyssey: Honda Odyssey Reviews, Pricing, Specs and more »
If you are looking for a used Honda Odyssey, you may not be alone. Since its debut in 1995, the Honda Odyssey has been a popular, top-selling minivan. It especially took off in 1999, when the interior was redesigned to be more roomy. Third row seats that folded into the floor also became available. The Odyssey's engine was a 3.5-liter V6, cranked up to 240 hp in 2002. Transmission is automatic. The dual sliding doors, anti lock brakes and side curtain airbags help to make this a top-selling minivan for families. LX and EX trim levels were available. Both levels have room for seven passengers, air conditioning, cruise control, traction control and alloy wheels. Navigation systems became available in 2002. The rear entertainment system also debuted in 2002, which also helped to boost the Odyssey's popularity. Parents of small children relished the power to keep their children entertained on long road trips.
The Odyssey's performance has been rated the best in its class. Parents of small children widely recommend the Odyssey. It's reliability and safety features make it a very sound choice for used minivan shoppers. And because it well-built and dependable from the very beginning, there isn't any generation model that should be crossed off shoppers' lists. Rather, used car shoppers should take general used car concerns into consideration, such as the mileage on the minivan and the Carfax report.
Check out CarsDirect for more information and listings for used Honda Odysseys.Show More »
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The Research Archives of the Oriental Institute is a non-circulating collection of books and other publications relating to the ancient Near East for the reference and research of Oriental Institute faculty, staff, students, members, and authoized guests. Its materials span the history of the ancient Near East from prehistoric times through the Late Antique period and reflect the interests and work of its users and benefactors.
The Research Archives is housed in the former quarters of the old Oriental Institute Library. The Reading Room, which was described by James Henry Breasted as "the most beautiful room in the building," retains most of the original decorative elements and furnishings from when the Oriental Institute was completed in 1931. Of particular note are the "Lotus" Window in the south wall, with its Egyptian-style design, the wood carvings on the north wall, and the elaborately painted ceiling. Overlooking the Reading Room is the Minstrel's Gallery, which now houses the periodicals collection. In recognition of generous support for the Oriental Institute Legacy Campaign, the Research Archives Reading Room is named the Elizabeth Morse Genius Reading Room.
The Oriental Institute has made a substantial commitment to complete the holdings of the Research Archives in the fields represented by the scholarship of its faculty and staff. To this end, individual volumes and complete runs have been (and continue to be) purchased to complete our holdings in serial and periodical publications. With holdings of over 60,000 volumes, the Research Archives is a unique resource for the study of the Ancient Near East.
Further information can be found on the Brief History of the Research Archives as well as in the Introduction & Guide.
- 2013 Provisioning the Temple of the Muses: Expanding Capacity in the Research Archives through Compact Storage Installation
- 2009 A Feast of Knowledge: Libraries and Archives, Past and Present
- 2008 Recovering the Lost Story of the Rise of Man: The Research Archives of the Oriental Institute
Introduction & Guide to the Research Archives
View a brief history of the Research Archives and its policies.Download the Introduction and Guide
Search Our Collections
Browse over five hundred thousand entries that represent complete analytics for all cataloged Research Archives materials.Search Our Collections
Featured OI Research
The Oriental Institute is proud to announces the joint publication with the Iraqi State Board of Antiquities and Heritage of Nimrud: The Queens' Tomb by Muzahim Mahmoud Hussein.Nimrud Queens' Tomb


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REOPro - Real Estate Default Professionals
America's Largest Social Network for Default Real Estate Professionals
Would love to share info with anyone going.
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