Cowboys' recipe for playoff success

It turns out my fears from last week were unfounded, as the Cowboys have already clinched a playoff berth. With the Saints' and Vikings' struggles, the road to the Super Bowl is wide open. But for the Cowboys to take advantage, they've got to make some offensive changes:

1. Make Felix Jones the primary running back. Barber has had a very good career, but he appears to be slowing down. Felix should get 75% of the carries.

2. Bench Roy Williams. Williams is still useful in goalline situations, but outside the 10 yard line, it's time to give Kevin Ogletree a shot.

3. Be more creative in short-yardage situations. I like Jason Garrett, but he has fallen victim to the unwritten rule that you have to run it up the middle on 3rd-and-1 and 4th-and-1. It simply isn't working. Any other playcall would be better. Do a QB sneak. Try a pitch play. Throw a slant route (preferably to someone other than Williams). Throw deep. Anything.

Braves 2010: Catch it!

The Braves' 2010 roster is shaping up, and let's just say the playoffs look unlikely. The Braves traded away their best pitcher from last year, Javier Vazquez, to the Yankees for 4th outfielder Melky Cabrera. The main point of the trade was to save money.

The Braves then signed formerly good player Troy Glaus to play first base. Glaus might still be good, but he missed almost all of last year with a shoulder injury. Here's how the Braves lineup is shaping up:

1. Nate McLouth (CF). McLouth is slightly above average in every aspect of the game. He is the very embodiment of "pretty good."

2. Martin Prado (2B). Prado actually has been awesome throughout his career, but is it a fluke? We'll find out this year.

3. Chipper Jones (3B). Chipper was awful down the stretch last year, yet the Braves owe the suddenly aging star over $30 million the next 3 years. If Chipper doesn't bounce back, the Braves are in big trouble. I think he'll bounce back, but I'm nervous.

4. Troy Glaus (1B). Glaus could hit .260 with 30 homers. Or he could be hurt all year.

5. Brian McCann (C). McCann had vision problems last season, but was still pretty good. Hopefully he is 100% this year.

6. Yunel Escobar (SS). Escobar is the Nate McLouth of shortstops. He's pretty solid at everything.

7. Matt Diaz (RF). Diaz is mediocre against right-handed pitchers, and he's Albert Pujols against lefties.

8. Melky Cabrera (LF). Cabrera is pretty good for a backup and pretty weak for a starter. Hopefully super-prospect Jason Heyward will be ready soon.

All in all, in the best case scenario, the Braves' offense will be average. If any players have down years or get injured, it's going to be a frustrating season.

Careful, Cowboys

After the Cowboys' surprising win against New Orleans, the attitude in the Metroplex has gone from doom and gloom to "Where can I buy Super Bowl tickets?"

I hate to rain on the parade, but the Cowboys could still EASILY miss the playoffs. The Giants play at home against Carolina, and then on the road against the Vikings. Unfortunately for the Cowboys, the Vikings may have already clinched the #2 seed and thus have nothing to play for against the Giants. Plus, the Vikings have been sucking lately anyway. The point is that the Giants could easily win their last 2 games and finish at 10-6 with a tie-breaker advantage over the Cowboys.

That means the Cowboys must win at Washington (whom they almost lost to at home) and against 10-4 Philly. A week ago, people were predicting that the Cowboys would lose their last 5 games. Suddenly, after one win against the Saints, those last 2 games have become automatic wins? I don't think so.

Plus, Tony Romo is due for some turnovers.

Oh, and Merry Christmas, everyone!

A Little Christmas Business

First off, I thought I'd let you all know that its looking like I won't get cards out this year. Things have been crazy, yadda, yadda, yadda....you get the idea. Anyway, I didn't want you all to think I'd forgotten about any of you!! We hope everyone has a wonderful Christmas!

Okay, now I feel better about that.

So...a question for you. I recently saw this on another blog and was intrigued (very pathetic I know) by the answers. So here it is.

When do you take down your Christmas tree? Stop turning on its lights? Stop turning on your outdoor lights?

The other blog was just about the tree and I was surprised by the answers. You see, we always continued turning all lights on through Epiphany (aka the 12 days of Christmas) then things came down not long after that. Most of my neighbors and many friends did the same. Scanning through the 20,000+ responses on the other blog very few people did this. Many of the other readers took their tree down the day after Christmas, and most by the New Year. Wow! Talk about a let down!! I guess I might understand this if using a live tree, but we are allergy/fake tree people (and lazy--who wants to clean up/water a real tree?) so this isn't an issue here.

Another response I saw quite a bit of was people talking about being from Louisiana and how many there leave trees up through Mardi Gras. Several said they don't know why, but that is tradition. A few of those actually commented that they liked it when the powers that be set Mardi Gras later in the spring so they can leave their tree up longer. Seriously? Its kind of depressing to think people no longer know the religious calender and reasons behind things like Mardi Gras. It reminds me of a girl in a few of my high school classes complaining about Easter needing to be set later in the Spring because they were just making it too early now days. This was a church on Sunday/Sunday night/Wednesday night girl. I guess she wasn't paying attention.

Honestly, we didn't put a tree up this year because I couldn't get to it through the disaster that is our upstairs. Oh well. So what about you?

Now that I'm done with that, the last bit of business. Funk and I are headed to our home town later tonight. We'll be in the area until sometime around New Years. We'd love to see some of you guys. Its been way to long for many of you. There are at least 6 of your babies/kiddos we've yet to even meet!!! Let us know if any of you want to get together! We'd love to see people.

Okay, now I'm done so you can get back to all of your last minute shopping!

Pam!!!!!!

As many readers know, Hollase and I have been watching the TV show Dallas on DVD. We're on Season 11, and throughout it all, by far the most annoying character is Pam. (Warning: Spoilers ahead.)

First of all, Pam has no personality whatsoever. She has no interests or hobbies. She is not a person you would ever, EVER, want to "hang out" with.

Pam also likes to pretend that she is a great businesswoman. She loves getting dressed up and heading to the office with her stylish briefcase. She particularly enjoys telling her secretary "That will be all" or "Send him in" in a snooty voice.

More annoying is Pam's self-righteous anger. She acts like she's never done anything wrong while she delivers tongue-lashings to Cliff, Bobby, J.R., or whoever else who is unfortunate enough to incur her wrath.

Also, Pam is always trying to show what a great person she is. When Bobby chose Pam over Jenna, Pam just had to go talk to Jenna and tell her how sorry she was. Of course, Jenna had no interest in talking to Pam, but that didn't matter to Pam. The important thing is that Pam got to feel good about herself.

Pam has done a lot of shockingly terrible things for someone who is so self-righteous. First, she divorced Bobby (who is supposedly the love of her life) simply because Bobby was trying too hard at business. Pam kept saying things like, "The Bobby I fell in love with would NEVER have used such ruthless business tactics!" Bobby's response was basically, "Uh, yes, he would have."

Then Pam and Bobby got re-married, but it turned out Jenna had gotten pregnant with Bobby's child. This made Pam extremely angry for some reason. Apparently she forgot that she had DIVORCED Bobby and hooked up with Mark Graison (not to mention the season-long sex dream she had about Mark). Anyway, Jenna was still devastated about being dumped by Bobby, so what does Pam do? Pam goes to Jenna and ASKS JENNA TO GIVE HER BABY TO PAM AND BOBBY because Pam and Bobby can do a better job of raising a child than Jenna can. Needless to say, Jenna told Pam to get lost.

But Pam saved her best for last. She was in a car wreck that burned up her face. She couldn't handle the fact that she was now ugly, so she decided to divorce Bobby (again) and abandon their son Christopher who was already suffering from self-esteem issues due to being adopted. This was classic Pam: extremely selfish behavior that Pam was nonetheless able to convince herself was the right thing to do. Pam may be ugly and alone now, but at least she has the peace of mind of knowing what a great person she is (or so she thinks).

Tony Romo trivia

I'll admit it: I'm a Tony Romo fan. I think he's a great quarterback. But even I was surprised by this stat:

Tony Romo has the 3rd-highest career quarterback rating in NFL history.

He's ahead of Joe Montana, Peyton Manning, Dan Marino, Tom Brady, and pretty much everyone else.

See for yourself at the following link:

http://www.pro-football-reference.com/leaders/pass_rating_career.htm

Cowboys report: It's time for Felix

The Cowboys are well on their way to another December meltdown, but there's still a chance to make the playoffs. But in order to have a shot against the Saints, the Cowboys need their best players on the field.

In 107 career carries, Felix Jones is average 7.0 yards per carry. 7.0!!! I know it's a small sample size, but he also averaged about 8 yards per carry in college. The bottom line is, he's a great runner. I know there are concerns that he is injury-prone, but when he's healthy, he needs to be on the field. If he gets hurt, Tashard Choice and Marion Barber are more than capable of filling in.

Thanks for nothing, Pres. Clinton

On today's Jeopardy, I was excited that one of the categories was "Sports Numbers." Unfortunately, I only got to see one of the questions because the show ran out of time, thanks in large part to a Bill Clinton category in which the former President himself read the agonizingly long questions.

Jeopardy strategy

Yesterday on Jeopardy, all 3 contestants missed the Final Jeopardy question. If the 2nd-place contestant had bet zero, she would have won. Instead, she bet too much and lost. This got me to thinking: If a 2nd-place contestant has at least two-thirds of the 1st-place contestant's score going into Final Jeopardy, the 2nd-place contestant should bet zero. If the 2nd-place contestant has less than two-thirds of the 1st-place contestant's score, then the 2nd-place contestant should bet everything.

Assume the 1st-place contestant has $15,000 going into Final Jeopardy, and the 2nd-place contestant has $10,000. The 1st-place contestant will almost invariably bet enough to guarantee victory if he gets it right. Thus the 1st-place contestant will bet at least $5,001. If the 1st-place contestant gets the answer right, then the 2nd-place contestant loses for sure. The only chance the 2nd-place contestant has is if the 1st-place contestant misses it, which would bring the 1st-place contestant's score down to $9,999. But if the 2nd-place contestant bets any money, the 2nd-place contestant will lose if he gets the Final Jeopardy question wrong. Thus, the safe move is for the 2nd-place contestant to bet zero.

This doesn't work if the 2nd-place contestant has less than two-thirds of the 1st-place contestant's score, in which case the 1st-place contestant can bet an amount that will guarantee victory if he gets it right, and yet at the same time guarantee victory if the 2nd-place contestant doesn't add to his score. (E.g., if the 1st-place contestant has $15,001 and the 2nd-place contestant has $10,000, then the 1st-place contestant can bet $5,000.) In this case, the 2nd-place contestant's only chance is to get the answer right, so he might as well bet it all.

Of course, things get more complicated if we take into account the 3rd-place contestant, so let's just assume he is hopelessly out of the running.