I had read it in newspapers and blogs online… I had heard about it on ESPN SportsCenter but I finally the video just now.

Chad OchoCinco (@OGOchoCinco) is a pretty darn good kicker — both for PATs and a regular kickoff as well. What is it that this man can’t do? Maybe he and @The_Real_Shaq can compete sometime in a decathalon. Now that is quality television waiting to happen.

Enjoy the kicking video:

Just yesterday, I was made aware of a “Self Publish with Us” service offered by Amazon.com. Through CreateSpace or BookSurge, you have the ability to utilize several publishing tools to help sell your books, videos amongst other digital media.

For a first time author, this is probably a very enticing offer to have a book published for free while having it listed on Amazon and making it visible to millions of viewers. Amazon does take a percentage of the list price plus a fixed charge depending on the length of your book but you agree to a non-exclusive agreement giving you the ability to change publishing and distributing partners if a better situation presents it self.

There is a 24-page minimum if you choose to publish but I am going to assume that if you are writing anything, it will hit that 24-page mark rather quickly and shouldn’t be a problem. If you remember, I started writing my own book about earlier and without even knowing, I have been way past the minimum limit. This service really has gotten me back interested in finishing up the book and hopefully have one out within the next 6-12 months.

Let’s just take a look at some of the features “Self Publish with Us” offers:

Book Features from Amazon.com

• All book covers are printed in full-color on cover stock and finished with a protective laminate coating
• Black and white books can be printed on white or cream (also called “off-white”) paper
• Amazon listings include the Search Inside!® feature
• Free CreateSpace ISBN is assigned if you do not already own one

Some critical frequently asked questions that I briefly described earlier such as the initial cost to publish a book, whether you keep the rights to your work and can you order a member’s copy are answered below:

How much will it cost to set up my book?

There are no set-up fees for your book; before making it available for sale, we do require you to purchase and approve a proof copy of your book. We’ll also provide you with a free CreateSpace ISBN if you don’t already own one.

In what format do I need to submit my book files?

For your book’s interior, you must submit a fully-formatted PDF file. You may choose to use our Cover Creator tool to build a professional cover for your book or upload a finished PDF cover file.

Do I keep the rights to my work?

We offer a non-exclusive agreement, enabling you to take advantage of future publishing and distribution opportunities that may come your way.

Can I order copies of my book from you?

Yes, you can order copies of your book at very competitive rates. There are no print minimums, so you can order one book, 500 books or more, whatever quantity suits your needs and your budget.

For a very long time, Brett Favre could do no wrong in the hearts and minds of Green Bay Packers fans all across the country. That probably all changed when he flipped and flopped on a decision whether to retire or to play another season with the Packers following the great 13-3 season in which they fell a game short of the Super Bowl. When he couldn’t make up his mind whether he could play another season and he retired, the Packers finally decided to invest in their future quarterback Aaron Rodgers. A lot of fans including myself were finally able to close the greatest and longest chapter in NFL history on the arguably the greatest quarterback to ever play the game.

Although the relationship between quarterback and the Cheeseheads faithful have been rocky ever since, it probably took an irreparable turn (at least for the near future) when he stepped onto the podium yesterday wearing a #4 Purple Jersey. One will continue to wonder how the Vikings fans will treat a guy who has beaten them year in and year out in their division — will they still root for him if he struggles early? Will they root for him if he does well but can’t beat the Packers or Bears? Clearly, anything short of a Super Bowl run this year will be a disappointment and there’s nothing more that I would like than to see Brett struggle in Minnesota.

Favre got what he wanted Tuesday. He got the team he craved, the salary he could live with and the NFC North Division he knows by heart. But the nanosecond he signed that two-year, $25 million contract with the Vikings was the nanosecond he burned the last few remaining wooden bridges between him and Packers fans. He became Fredo Corleone in “The Godfather: Part II” — the one who betrays the family. Packers fans became Michael Corleone, who tells his older brother, “Fredo, you’re nothing to me now.”

Fredo got popped on a fishing boat in the middle of Lake Tahoe. Favre could get his on national television in the middle of the Metrodome. Or he could lead the team with the league’s best running back and one of the league’s best defensive lines to Super Bowl XLIV. – Gene Wojciechowski (ESPN.com)

I am hopeful that one day I will get over what he did to the Packers franchise but don’t expect it anytime soon. Hopefully by the time he has finally retired for good and is up there in Canton giving his Hall of Fame speech, I will watch him as the great quarterback he was for all these years instead of the drama queen he had become in the late stages of his career – even if that stage began in his last few seasons with Green Bay.

A great peice I quoted earlier by ESPN’s Gene Wojciechowski so be sure to read it: Favre’s Left Green Bay Behind, For Good.

[EDIT] A couple of changes noted by Rishi Abuwala. The name of freshman who I couldn’t remember but played well for us along side Dan was Tony. Also, the score at half time was apparently 2-2 and not 3-2 as I stated. The Alumni scored 3 more unanswered goals in the second half.

Here is a game recap for those who could not attend and even for those who were and want a recap of the game. Let me know if I messed up somewhere with a detail or a name and I’ll adjust it.

After what seemed like hundreds of date and time changes, the 7^th Academy Alumni soccer game took place yesterday in the scorching 100 degree weather. As the current Academy students and the alumni started to trickle onto the track field at Thomas Edison Park, you could tell this was going to be a long day as everyone started sweating long before most of us even took the field.

I usually always field some shots before warm-ups from players on both sides which helps me get a sense of the new kids and whose shot I should look out for come game time. A couple of incoming freshmen did well to leave a good mark right away which tells you the future of the Academy has the potential to stay bright.

As game time neared, the Alumni including the seniors (or lone senior – Carlo) from the class of 2009 only had 9 players on our side compared to roughly 15-16 for the current Academy team. We ended up drawing two incoming freshmen who I would have preferred along side their teammates for the upcoming year but definitely gave our team a boost. I don’t accurately remember the second freshman’s name but Dan who played defense right in front of me was very calm and collected in the face of a constant attack from the Academy side which cam early and often. Even in a couple of one-on-one situations, he did well holding his own against the likes of Sami and Alyssa.

There was a decent back and forth start to the game for the first 5-10 minutes as the alumni were getting a little accustomed to playing with the new guys. That playing style eventually led to a very weak loft by Academy towards our goal at a time I wasn’t paying much attention and talking to a current senior about their team. I turned out in what seemed like enough time to see the bouncing loft which was rolling towards the right post and started moving towards ball to collect it. That didn’t turn out to be the case as I thought the ball was going to roll out of bounds on the goal line but happened to trickle just inside the far post. 1-0 Academy.

After hearing about that goal from pretty much everyone on our side, we started moving the ball up back into our offensive third before capitalizing on a loose ball outside the box which tied up the game at 1. Our defense really started to pick up our game following a little bit of a sluggish start. It seemed to be going well until a corner which the Academy did well to put into play rather quickly and not allowing to get settled on the posts for marking. I had turned around to make sure that there was someone on the far post behind me in case the ball went over but by the time I had turned around, the ball was already in the air from the corner and proceeded to get a slight deflection by the defender right in front of me and off my gloves into the goal. 2-1 Academy.

Both sides really buckled down from then on for a good 10 minutes or so including a takeout by me on Max I think which really got me going. I always rely on a couple of those in a game to get into one of those modes where any ball that is coming into the box will be mine. It might have been the heat really starting to take over but we took an unorthodox water break with about 15 minutes left in the first half when it became too apparent that the lack of subs on our side was causing dehydration and a lack of effort.

Following the mini break, we decided to implement some changes. We switched up our stopper (Carlo) and right back (Dan). The switch with the right back and stopper helped us as the lack of experience back there allowed Academy to stay on side on a couple of plays where they would have been definitely offside had our regular squad been present. It stopped the bleeding on the backline and Dan’s nonchalant defensive style limited their possession for the remainder of the first half. I think we might have scored once before the half was over and went into the break tied at 2.

To start the second half, we tried one more change albeit it was only temporary. Our left back (Frank) swapped places with our right midfielder (Vivek) to allow him to make a couple of runs up the right side to spark our offense to start the half. Although the runs didn’t payoff in goals right away it definitely helped us move the ball on both sides a little bit more fluently and the counter pressure we applied seemed to frustrate Academy a little. We had a good stretch of constant ball control and possession and eventually pushed the lead to 5-2 Alumni that was at the hand of 4-unaswered goals by the staunch offensive attack by Ab, Rishi and Varesh. Varesh along with Frank had excellent opportunities to extend the lead even further but each of their headers (both off corners I believe) went just wide and the score remained as is.

The Academy did well to stop the scoring on our part from there on out. They started capitalizing on turnovers and pushing the ball up on both sides of the field. I think the first goal was by Sami where is a simple one on one against me where I held my line instead of coming out and a simple shot to my left and Academy cut the lead down to 5-3. Max, who had been called for several offsides earlier on, continued the patient attack. He held control of the ball just on the 18 yard line with little pressure on him. I thought I had a good enough read on the shot that if I didn’t save it, I could definitely parry it over the cross bar. The shot however, was very well placed in the upper 90 just outside of the reach of my left hand going across my body and the score was now 5-4 Alumni with just 7 minutes to play in the game.

Those last seven minutes seemed to last forever. We tried playing a little keep away to run off as much time as we could but after an errand pass, they had a good clean look coming up my right side followed by my left which they just couldn’t finish off. There were a couple of breakaways where I just broke from my line and told myself that the pressure is on the attacker to tie the game and I’m not going to make it easy for him. Two rather aggressive (or reckless) dives on the ball by me in goal kept the score at the one goal differential before time would run out with Alumni holding onto a 5-4 victory.

I think it has been back to back alumni games now that we have escaped with a one goal victory after what seemed like easy games in the first year or two. I think the key really is experience down in the end where passing is far more important trying to weave through the entire defense on your own to try and equalize the score. That kind of patience is often developed and the sooner is happens, the better it is for the team. Alumni improves its overall record to 6-1 in these games with the next one scheduled for Thanksgiving break as usual.

P.S. Thanks for the father who brought drinks for everyone on the field just as the game expired. I know I that was very much appreciated on a hot and humid day like yesterday with the temperature in the mid-90’s and the head index hitting triple digits.

I got this article this past weekend from my friend Krishna who showed me a piece by John S. Baker and Elliott Stonecipher from the Wall Street Journal whoraised an interesting question regarding the upcoming census which occurs at the turn of every decade in their opinion piece titled “Our Unconstitutional Census“.

A census, for those of you who are unaware, not only counts the number of people in this country but also determines the allotment of House members and in turn Electoral College votes that each state gets for the next 10 years. Although such a survey is not the most accurate, it is probably still the best way to determine in which areas of the country the population has shifted or increased and deserve their appropriate representation.

All of this seems perfectly fine and this is a process that has been done in this country since the 1700’s. So what’s the big commotion this time?

It turns out that the past few census calculations (since the 1970 one) has not asked a person’s legal status in the country. That right there raises serious questions about who should and should not be included. Should a person who might not be paying taxes and definitely not exercising their civil duty in voting deserve to be included in a measure of how the representation of our congressman and women are redistributed?

It has been the Democrats who have held the majority in the Congress at the turn of each decade (except for 1999 when Republicans held both Senate and House of Representatives), and they technically do “ask” for certain things to be included and not included in the short/long forms. Democrats usually known for their softer stance towards the Latino community but that was not a stance changed by the Republicans when they last had a chance 10 years ago.

By 1980 there were two census forms. The shorter form went to every person physically present in the country and was used to establish congressional apportionment. It had no question pertaining to an individual’s citizenship or legal status as a resident. The longer form gathered various kinds of socioeconomic information including citizenship status, but it went only to a sample of U.S. households. That pattern was repeated for the 1990 and 2000 censuses.

According to that segment from the article, a person’s legal status hasn’t been in question for a census since the 1970 one. Wall Street Journal in its Latino-hating bias just casually drops that line and continues going on with its 2010 census hating bash.

Personally, I don’t think a person who is not of legal status should be included in determining the proportioning of the representatives. However, such a statement or belief begs the question that should any person be counted that is a citizen of the country? How do you determine who is a productive member of society? Is it one who has the paper works to show for it? Is it one that might be doing the job at the bottom of the food chain to keep the foundation of the economy rolling?

This issue is more complicated than a simple yes or no but I believe until a better resolution can be made on how to accurately represent the illegal residents in this country, those bordering or harboring a vast number of the aliens do not deserve to be represented whether it is in the bright blue state of California or the burning red of Texas – neither party should benefit from such an act and the correction should be made to go back to the way it was pre-1970 census.