Michigan?? Anyone? Michigan?

LSU head football coach Les Miles signed a contract extension Thursday to keep him at the university through 2012, apparently ending speculation that he might leave for a job at the University of Michigan. The contract doesn't change Miles' salary, which already will rise to at least $2.8 million annually based on LSU's Southeastern Conference championship this year. An SEC championship win requires Miles' salary to be at least the third highest in the conference.

Hey, if you're into bucolic Baton Rouge as opposed to lovely Ann Arbor, more power to you. But apparently alumni ties doesn't trump the chances of a college football dynasty, which LSU has a chance to become. Plus the shrimp. You ever eat shrimp from Michigan? Exactly.

Also, Greg Schiano has turned away Michigan and will remain the football coach at Rutgers.

"I was contacted earlier this week about the Michigan coaching vacancy, but I have decided to remove my name from consideration," Schiano said in a statement. "I look forward to our third straight bowl game and to bringing a national championship to Rutgers and the state of New Jersey. I will have no further comment."

Wow, so the big, bad Blue was rebuffed twice in one week after Lloyd Carr's retirement. Despite temporary valley's amongst the peaks, Michigan Football is a top gig, and I don't see why coaches aren't clamoring for this position, especially Schiano. Last season he turned down Miami's offer to remain at Rutgers, to build up the program, which he has had success doing so far. I respect his commitment to the program...cough cough Tim Sabian cough cough, but can you really turn down two lucrative offers in two years?

Hey, if you're into bucolic Piscataway as opposed to lovely Ann Arbor, more power to you. I mean, I'm sure there are things that you can get in Jersey that you can't get in Ann Arbor. You know, like McDonalds? I'm at a loss........

FYI - Michigan's list of potential candidates still includes Wake Forest's Jim Grobe, California's Jeff Tedford, Missouri's Gary Pinkel, North Carolina State's Tom O'Brien, Ball State's Brady Hoke, Michigan offensive coordinator Mike DeBord and Wolverines defensive coordinator Ron English.

Oh the pictures of the Jessica Alba and Grace Park? Would you rather I put a picture of a middle aged white dude with a scowl?

Draft me, I'm Heisman.

The four Heisman finalists have been announced. They are, Hawaii quarterback Colt Brennan, Missouri quarterback Chase Daniel, Arkansas running back Darren McFadden and Florida quarterback Tim Tebow.

Tim Tebow is widely considered the favorite due to his combined (running and throwing) 40+ TD's, despite being a sophomore,Florida's 9-3 record, anf finishing 3rd in the SEC East division. That being said, McFadden led his razorbacks to an 8-4 record, good for 3rd in the SEC West, despite his 1725 rushing yards and 5.7 yards per carry average.

Brennan had the privilege of running the Shoot and Run offense at Hawaii, who went undefeated at 12-0, passing for 4,174 yards and 38 touchdowns. He also set the major college record for career touchdown passes with 131. Chase Daniel, despite passing for 4,170 yard and 33 TD's (to 10 INT's), appears to be the long shot. I think it's a shame Oregon's Dennis Dixon injured himself, he would have ran away with the trophy this year.

I should get a vote in this damn race. Twoseamer has more than proven it's redemable value in this forsaken society. Give us some love NCAA.

How Lee would decide his Heisman vote - I wouldn't place my vote for Tebow, even with those gaudy stats. After it's run for the National Championship was over Florida played it's games to get Tebow the Heisman. I think those stats would be more impressive if it came in an organic way, within the flow of the game. Not to mention, Brennan threw for 38 TD's, which is as equally impressive as Tebow's 20/20 achievement.

However, you can argue that Brennan should have gotten those stats considering the offense he's in. Most of the Rainbow Warrior's plays are passes out of the shotgun, and Brennan throws to three incredible WR's - although a Heisman candidate should not be judged on his teammates surrounding him. He should be judged on his level of execution. Which all four of these candidates did at a high level.

Chase Daniel is an excellent Quarterback, a great leader, and he almost had his team in the National Championship, which is something the other candidates can't say. As with Brennan and Hawaii, you can argue that the Mizzou schedule wasn't as rigorous as the one McFadden and Tebow had to face with their respective teams. The big knock on Daniel is that he didn't come up big when it counted, and with a weaker schedule if you don't show up for one of the few huge games your team plays, it sticks out.

My vote goes for McFadden. Yes, his team lost 4 times and was basically out of contention for any sort of high bowl game for most of the year. My reasoning;

a) He's the only RB amongst the four, and obviously stands out at his position.

b) He ran for 1,700+ yards in a division that prides itself on stopping the run.

c) McFadden was his team. It's much harder to gain 1,700 yards on the ground when the defense knows the ball is going to you, than it is for a QB throwing.

d) McFadden is hands down the best football player of the four. As I said before, my knock on Tebow is that Florida's season was to get him the Heisman. That's not the best player, that's a really good player, in a perfect system at the perfect time. McFadden just ran around, over, and through Defense's...all talent, no system.

Go Darren....plus I cannot get enough of you talking on camera. Here's to the Arkansas Satte Board of Education, way to not let them slip throught he cracks!

More Hot Stove.

The lovable Andruw Jones has signed a 2 year, $36.2 million contract. The 30-year-old right-handed hitter had 368 home runs and 1,117 RBIs in 12 seasons with the Atlanta Braves, including 51 home runs in 2005.

At the start of the 2007 season Jones was on the verge of that huge, long-term contract that all players dream of, only to sign a 2 year deal. In all fairness, it is for $36 Mil, but what would have he gotten if he hit .250 and 30 HR (as opposed to .225 and 26 HR).

Needless to say, Jones is far from the prototypical Joe Torre player. While he is an absolute wiz in the field, he's a strike out waiting to happen and was never the poster boy for hustle. He is however, the poster boy for stupid annoying faces that you just want to smack the shit out of.

They're Grrrrrrrrrrrrrreat

The Detroit Tigers have taken the Hot Stove lead, and trumped and Johan Santana talk....at least temporarily.

The Tigers have traded verified can't miss prospects lefty SP Andrew Miller, to-be-slugger Cameron Maybin and a four other highly touted prospects to the Marlins for LHP Dontrelle Willis and savant slugger Miguel Cabrerra.

This insane trade makes Detroit one of the two best teams in the Al, if not the majors, and possibly the best pending the BoSox/Twins Santana swap. This is a line-up that have triple hitting machine Granderson in the lead-off spot followed by Cabrerra, new SS Edgar Renteria, Magglio Ordonez, and the ageless Gary Sheffield. However Jim Leyland decided to bat them really doesn't matter, that's a tough line-up to get through.

The bigger question is how will Cabrerra react to the smaller Latino community in Detroit as opposed to Miami. More importantly, the smaller Latino female community in Detroit. Word is that Tigers are addressing this situation and plan to ship in women from South American countries. Ain't NAFTA great!! Oh wow, here's a pic of a hot Latina chick, Eva Mendes. Go figure.

Christmas comes early in Detroit

In what could quite possibly be one of the best post season moves in years, the Detroit tigers just got really serious on winning. The aquisition has quickly turned the Tigers into arguaebly the #2 team in baseball to the Redsox.

Hey Junior Varsity! Oh I mean National League, wake up and do something this winter besides snow angels. Cabrera and Willis bring a youthful enthusiasm to a team that got fat real quick after 2006. With these key aquisitions the Tigers have found 2 players that have at least 8 productive years left in the tank, if Cabrera stays away from his pension for second helpings and booze. Willis will immediately look as though he is a throw back from the 1930's with the crooked cap, and baggy pants, and the script D.

Meanwhile, Joe Torre has taken his NY state of mind to L.A. and overpaid for an over the hill, and overweight, Andruw Jones.

In other news the Florida Marlins have published their revised 2008 schedule which includes the Tidewater Tide, Columbus Clippers, Rochester Redwings and the Duval County AAU under 16 travel team. As this is being written Hank Steinbrenner has just made another report to the Twoseamer that the talks with Minnesota are really, really, really over. Check back tomorrow to see when Hank will stick his foot in his mouth once again.

Ill communication

The BCS has released it's Bowl alignments, the Pats are undefeated, the MLB Winter Meetings are currently taking place, and the NBA is actually pretty entertaining aside from the running joke that is the Knicks. There is a lot to comment on, but I am experiencing that slow death that is the flu. I'll be out of commission at least for today, but here is what to expect for the next couple days, weeks, months, and years.

-John Anthony vs. Lee - Predictions for each Bowl game, the 900-King tries to crush the webmaster himself.
-Full Winter Meeting recaps, and the Hank Steinbrenner watch, eventually his neck is going to swallow it's head and it's only a matter of time.
-Our belated NCAA Hoops preview
-Plus more pics of chicks in their underwear.

I'm going to medicate.........

Around the NFL......

Here are a few game recaps.

-The New York Jets help to keep the dream alive by beating the Miami Dolphins 40-13. The Dolphins are now winless at 0-12. I'm finding that I only want to watch Dolphin games from here on out, the futility is breathtaking.

-Eagles Quarteback AJ Feeley came scorching back to earth, going 19-42 with 4 picks in a 28-24 loss to the Seahawks. With this loss the impending QB controversy in Philly cooled off a ton, along with a lot of hope for a playoff birth in the log jam that is the NFC playoff picture, at 5-7. The Seahawks are 8-4 sitting atop the NFC West.

-Eli Manning was able to shake-off 114 minutes of horrendous play (beginning in his 4 INT stinker against Minnesota) to bring the Giants back to win it on the road in Chicago 21-16, by leading two 4th quarter TD drives. All but 3 of the Bears points were off of turnovers. We can sit here and pick Manning apart, but he did bring the NYG back to win and an 8-4 record. Rex Grossman must already be thinking about his New Years plans because he threw the most meaningless 296 yards ever. The Bears, at 5-7, might have just said good-bye to the playoffs.

-In the first game since the death of Sean Taylor, the Washington Redskins were beaten on a last second FG by the Buffalo Bills 17-16. The Redskins came out playing the first snap on defense with 10 men, the Safety spot was empty in honor of Taylor. I think this tragedy hit the Skins harder than anybody could really imagine. You would have thought they would have came out and rolled over the Bills (6-6), (think Tiki Barbers 200 yard game a few seasons back when the Giants owner passed away). The final 4 games might be pretty bleak for the 5-7 Redskins.

-With 17 seconds left, QB Luke McCown led the Buccaneers to a game winning TD, which gave the Bucs a 27-23 win over the New Orleans Saints. Tampa Bay is 8-4 and is sitting comfortably on top of the NFC South. The Saints, who were the toast of last season, fell to 5-7 and after appearing in the NFC Championship game last season are mostly going to be sitting the playoffs out this time around.

See other scores here.......