2010: The Best and the Worst

Best Sports Story of 2010 – Zenyatta’s 19 race winning streak and the narrow defeat at The Breeder’s Cup in the race of the year.

Worst Sports Story of 2010 – Tiger Wood’s melodrama, what else is new about big time athletes.

Best Word of 2010 – Vuvuzela: the South African plastic trumpet that drove us all nuts during the World Cup Soccer matches.

Worst Word of 2010 – QE2, a stupid name for driving America further into debt and recession, for you non-economic types the word is not the ocean liner, but the abbreviation for the Fed’s latest round of quantitative easing, its purchase of Treasury bonds.

Best Television Show of 2010 – "Boardwalk Empire", this drama about the machinations – criminal, political, social, sexual – in Atlantic City during Prohibition.

Worst Television Show of 2010 – "Dancing with the Stars", has been entertainment and sports people dancing the waltz to “Do You Thing I am Sexy”.

Best Collegiate Story of 2010 – University of La Verne’s hiring of its’ first female President, hope springs eternal.

Worst Collegiate Story of 2010 – University of La Verne’s announcement it will borrow money to build a new dormitory, parking and relocate athletic fields. An unwise choice for a private institution struggling in a recession to borrow money instead of fundraising the resources first. Is there a need for this course of action or is it ego driven administrators trying to save their jobs?

Best Economic Story of 2010 – Facebook, its’ growing dominance on the internet and for creating a whole new generation of people without a clue.

Worst Economic Story of 2010 – Unemployment, the continuing high number of out of work Americans, even though corporations have billions of dollars in cash ready to reinvest in their businesses but fail to do so.

To be continued next week…

BIRTHDAYS THIS WEEK – Birthday wishes and thoughts this week to Jimmy Buffett (64), Chris Evert (56), Jane Fonda (73), Steve Garvey (62), Paul Hornung (75), Jim Leyland (66), Susan Lucci (62), Kiefer Sutherland (44), Dick Wolf (64).

COLLEGE FOOTBALL BOWL PICK OF THE WEEK – Wednesday 12/22, the MAACO Las Vegas Bowl in Las Vegas Nevada, 8:00 PM ET, ESPN. #19 Utah Utes (10-2) vs. #10 Boise State Broncos (11-1), both schools already have won two BCS bowl games. On the downside for Utah, starting quarterback Jordan Wynn won't be able to play due to shoulder surgery, meaning backup Terrance Cain will get the call. That's not too bad, considering he's 9-1 as Utah's starter. It will be interesting to see how the Broncos react after dropping from a BCS bowl game to Las Vegas. The Utes (what is a Ute) are 15 point dogs to Boise State. Give the points and take The Broncos in Vegas.
Season to date (13-3).

SMALL COLLEGE PICK OF THE WEEK – Congratulations to Wisconsin Whitewater in winning their second straight D-III football championship. We conclude our Small College Football Pick of the Week with a 12-3 record, not bad. We begin a new pick of the week on January 3, 2011 with the College Hockey Pick of the Week.

NFL PICK OF THE WEEK – Sunday 12/26, New York Jets (10-4) @ Chicago Bears (9-4), 1:00 PM ET, CBS., it will be a cold one at Soldier Field but the playoffs beckon for both teams. The Jets are 2 point underdogs in this one. We like The Jets.
Season to date (6-9).

WEST WING MUST READ - "A hefty portion of the $858 billion tax package will benefit middle- and upper-middle-income Americans - precisely the demographic that felt neglected the last two years as the White House and Congress focused on the major health care law and on helping the unemployed and people facing foreclosure. These new tax breaks ... could pay big political dividends to Mr. Obama and other Democrats in 2012. ... The single most expensive component of the package - other than the continuation of all of the marginal rates - is a two-year adjustment of the alternative minimum tax, to prevent it from hitting millions more households. This would insulate couples with income up to $72,450 in 2010 and $74,450 in 2011 at a cost of $137 billion. ... Middle- and upper-middle-income Americans will also benefit most from the one-year payroll tax cut."

RELIGION - Have you been in a Starbucks lately, it is like being in one of those strip mall churches. Various denominations of preachers are in attendance, for $6.00 you get a cafe latte and your soul cleansed.

STRESSED OUT - Five most stressed out economies are: Nevada, Florida, California, Michigan, and Arizona. The index calculates unemployment, foreclosure and bankruptcy rates.

MORE FACEBOOK - I hope this Time Magazine Person of the Year award will finally get Zuckerberg the attention he deserves.

MORE ON THE BUDGET WOES - CBS's "60 Minutes" also focused on the state budget crisis last night: "It has gotten much less attention because each state has a slightly different story. But in the two years, since the 'great recession' wrecked their economies and shriveled their income, the states have collectively spent nearly a half a trillion dollars more than they collected in taxes. There is also a trillion dollar hole in their public pension funds."

And So This Is Christmas;
And What Have We Done?
Another Year Over; A New One Just Begun;
And So Happy Christmas;
I Hope You Have Fun;
The Near And The Dear Ones;
The Old And The Young.
John Lennon

Next week, our year end best and worst concludes.

Until next Monday, Felices Fiestas!

Claremont, CA
December 20, 2010