I think Chuck Hagel is a very good choice for sec. of defense. I know it will be a tough confirmation fight and I don't know given all the financial battles coming up that Obama should fight this one. But he is well qualified and brings bipartisanship. Will see how the hearings go.
Alabama crushed ND which was expected. As I said before I believe Oregon would give Alabama the toughest game. Sometimes you have to be lucky just to get to the finals. ND was certainly lucky this season. In fact you can make a case that Alabama was lucky this last two seasons, getting in with 1 loss each season. But you have to tip your hat to them as I believe that ultimately the best team won both seasons. Given the parity we have now, I predict that neither Alabama nor ND will return to the championship game next year!
Monday, January 07, 2013
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Chuck Hagel is an interesting character. I don't know what to make of him and I haven't seen enough of his ideas to make an educated argument for or against his candidacy for Secretary of Defense.
ReplyDeleteI do like some of the things he has said and how he didn't like the escalation of troops in Iraq. I don't find what he said about the Israel lobby to be that bad. Then again, if others find fault with it, then he is a lightning rod for controversy and I don't know if you want a Defense Secretary to be a controversial figure.
I am also unsure about the pick for CIA director, John Brennan. He seems to have the background for the job, but he too has a controversial past. Then again, we thought that Petraeus would be squeaky clean too.
The only thing better than an Alabama/Oregon matchup would have been an Alabama/Texas A&M rematch. After watching the first Alabama/TAMU game in the fall, I still don't know how Alabama lost at home.
It just goes to show that the old saying of "on any given Saturday (or Sunday)..."
-LBOAYM
Hagel is being opposed by the Republicans, his won party, because he was quoted in an interview that the Israel lobby had a lot of influence in D.C. but that he is an American senator, not an Israeli senator. His critics say that he is against Israel. Today in the LA Times opinion page, Aaron David Miller, whose interview with Hagel led to above comment, defended Hagel strongly. Miller, whom I believe is Jewish himself, says that Hagel is not against Israel but is simply looking out for the best interest of the U.S. I agree with that assessment and that is why I think he is qualified to be sec. of defense. I always say if we are to attack Iran for example, we should do it because it is to be our national interest, not on behalf of any other nation. He also said that we fight when we should but not when we don't have to. I like that in someone who is going to be in charge of defense.
ReplyDeleteI don't know anything about Brennan but if nobody can find something controversial about a public person, then he probably has not done anything of importance.
Don't forget A@M is now in the SEC also. We don't want any more all SEC matchups. This year the only non-SEC team that has a reasonable chance to beat Alabama would have been Oregon. But we will never get a chance to see that.
You and I agree on Hagel and his comments on Israel. It just seems to me that this guy is a Democrat in Republican clothing. That's not a bad thing. Just awkward.
ReplyDeleteAnd politically, it might not help him in getting confirmed. But I don't know who else would make a good candidate.
It will be interesting to see if Alabama will 3-peat. The odds are stacked against them, but on paper, they have the best team coming back.
If Chip Kelly ends up leaving Oregon, it'll be interesting to see if the program will remain strong. It helps that Nike is a major backer, since that helps in recruiting. A lot of fine schools in the Pac 12 to choose from though, so they don't dominate the recruiting scene like Alabama, Texas, USC, Ohio State and Michigan.
What are your thoughts on UCLA? Did Cal hire a coach yet?
-LBOAYM
As I had stated: neither Alabama nor ND will make it back to the championship game. It is easy to predict ND won't make it back. The odds of Alabama 3 peat is just too great. As good as they have been the last 2 years, they lost a game each time. It took some luck for them to make it these 2 years. For example, if Oregon had not lost in OT to Stanford, they would have played ND instead of Alabama.
ReplyDeleteI thought I heard that Kelly is staying at Oregon. I agree that they will be a power for years to come because of the Nike money. But they have to continue to recruit well out of Calif. D'Anthony Thomas lived next to the Coliseum and was a big loss for USC. If USC and UCLA recruit well, they have the edge over other Pac 12 schools. It is like Michigan. In the past it was able to be a national power by getting players from Ohio, Florida and Texas to supplement talent from Michigan. This is getting harder and harder as Ohio State is doing well and the southern athletes are staying in the south.
Jim Mora has done a great job at UCLA. It remains to be seen if they can out recruit USC which has a much more rich tradition in football. I think UCLA will always be more of a basketball school and they will be a national power again in b-ball before they will be a power in football. I think it will be easier for the Big Ten to stay as a basketball power than football as well. Indiana, for example, does not produce many good football players but produce way more basketball players for a state its size.
I am surprised how well M is doing in basketball. The question will be how they handle tough games down the road. So far they have just out athlete all their opponents. By the way their freshman center McGrary is playing well but he was dominated by Wang Zhelin in the Nike challenge last year. Wang is playing in the CBA and averaging about 18 points and 11 rebounds a game, almost as good as Yao Ming at the same age. Wang is about the same size as Yi Jilian and Yi has a better outside shot and jumps better so you would not expect Wang to do well in the NBA since Yi did not do well. But Wang plays back to the basket like a true center whereas Yi plays out on the perimeter. Since there are very few back to the basket centers in the NBA anymore, Wang may find a niche there.
So are people in Detroit looking forward to the NHL finally starting? I would think a much shorter season would help an old team like the Red Wings. But of course they probably try to cramp more games in a shorter period of time like the NBA last year and as a result a lot more players are going to be injured.
Seems split on NHL hockey returning here. I think people are fed up. I think we might see lower than average attendance early. If the team does well, then I think people will get behind the team.
ReplyDeleteThey tried to bring back Lidstrom but he declined. The Red Wings are not as good as in previous years and people were saying that they might not make the playoffs with this team before the lockout.
They have a lot of work ahead to do. Sounds like a lot of the players stayed in shape playing overseas and in other leagues, so that's a good sign.
Michigan is playing good basketball right now. I've been impressed with how they are winning. Not much senior leadership on the team, but they have guys that step up which is a plus.
Big Ten is looking tough. I predict that the winner will have 4-5 losses in conference.
-LBOAYM