The Ferguson and choke hold cases have brought on protests all over the country.  They also brought on demonstrations and comments by athletes.  So far no repercussions for these athletes such as the Rams players or Charles Barkley.  Nor should there be any.  Athletes, like celebrities, have a forum to make their views of known that the rest of us don't have.  It does not mean that people should agree with or follow what they say.  They are no smarter than us.  But they certainly have rights to their opinions.  The Rams players sided with the protesters and the NFL did not punish them.  Barkley sided with the police and TNT allowed him and Kenny Smith argued on the air.  All those are right calls.

My own opinion is that there should have been indictments in the two cases.  I am not saying that the cops were guilty but as I said before, grand jury indictments are usually easily obtained as compared to convictions.  I think that if prosecutors wanted indictments, they certainly could have presented the evidence in such a way that the grand jury would agree that there were probable causes.  I think if civilians and not cops were involved, there would be no question that the two cases would have gone to trial.  And here is a conflict that I see:  Prosecutors usually work with the police to get the bad guys.  Are there conflict of interests then when it comes to prosecuting cops?  I think in controversial cases they should move outside the area or at least bring in federal prosecutors who do not work with the local police on a regular basis.

Whether the officers were guilty or not in these two cases, there is no denial of the fact that blacks are arrested more frequently, killed more often by police and sentenced to longer jail time.  This is true even if you factor in the higher rates of crime committed by blacks than whites.  A lot of that is due to economic difference.  Rich people do get away with more.  Charles Barkley got community service and fine for throwing someone through a bar window!  A poor black guy would have been punished much more harshly.  Of course, Barkley is recognized by the police and the judges.  He also can afford the best legal representation.  Beyond economics, however, racism I think still involved in a lot of situations.  I do think we are way better as a country in race relations, but we still need to do better.

Alabama, Oregon, FSU and OSU are in!  I have no problem with these selections.  I think that the committee made the right final choices.  The controversy comes with the TCU and Baylor situation.  I think having TCU dropping 3 spots after winning the last game and Baylor got jumped over by OSU are controversial, although not really surprising.  So if they had not release weekly standings all along and just gave the names today, I think there would be little argument.  So let us just have the final standing next season!

Congrats to Landon Donovan for going out as a champion!  A great career playing for the Galaxy and the U.S.  Soccer fans will miss him.  To bad for Lee Nguyen for getting injured during the game.  It would have been great to see Nguyen and Donovan involved in a Finals PK shootout!

After Ole Miss. got clobbered by Arkansas yesterday, I am thinking that if Alabama, which is in first place in the playoff poll, deserves to be there since they lost to Ole Miss.  Alabama can claim first because they beat Miss. State which was first before last week.  But Miss. State's claim to first place was mostly based on beating Auburn which has proven to be not so tough lately.  Is FSU the best team then since it is undefeated?  I don't know.   They have been doing the great escape every week.  But until someone can beat them, they deserve to be in the playoff for sure.  I am thinking they should just make it an 8 team playoff.  The champion of each of the big 5 conferences are in and then 3 wild cards are given, with no more than 3 teams from any conference.  The top 6 bowls would host the quarterfinals and semifinals.  There will still be controversies but if you win one of the big 5 conferences, you deserve to be in.  Otherwise there is no basis for complaint.

DWTS is very close.  So I won't make my final judgment until after seeing their last dances tomorrow.

Been on vacation then away for Labor Day weekend.  Finally caught up with all the work.  Have not been reading and watching the news carefully in these past couple of weeks.  But it is obvious the ISIS and Ukraine situations are getting worse.  There are no good solutions out there.  So I don't blame Obama for not coming up with any great plans.  But I think he has made a lot of mistake in at least public perceptions.  For example, going golfing after the conference about Foley's beheading.  Also having leaked that the administration have no plan yet against ISIS was politically inept.  When there are no good solutions, at least act and talk tough but offer no specifics that can come back to haunt you, such as Assad's use of chemical weapons as the red line.  Look, nobody wants to send troops to Iraq and Ukraine.  So none of the hawks have a legitimate idea either.  For now, continue air power and send weapons.

Nishikori vs Cilic?  Whoever made a bet on this daily double can plan for retirement.  Or he may be investigated for blackmailing Djokovic and Federer.

Can the Big Ten play any worse?