Offenses Are the Best Defenses

Info Hotel di Bandung - If only the old clichés were true, handicapping football would be a piece of cake. You know, "Winning begins with defense" or "Games are won at the point of attack". If this were true, Buddy Ryan's old Eagle teams with Hall-of-Famers and Pro Bowlers galore would have won a few Super Bowls. They never won a playoff game.

Info Hotel - Marty Schottenheimer eventually lost his job in Kansas City because his final team went from Super Bowl favorites to regular season flop because his mega-talented defense was always on the field. When you consider that the line is affected much more by the quality of skilled position players than anything else, if the old clichés were true, defensive dogs would hit about 90%.

When was the last time a game was taken off of the board or circled solely due to the injury of a great defensive player? The answer is probably the same as the last time a quarterback's status was unknown and the game was on the board and not circled in every sports book.

One of the biggest reasons that so many gamblers, not to mention football fans have this misconception is that they do not draw a distinction between a great offense and a high powered one.

Great offenses are not the ones that can consistently beat a team with a 60-yard bomb, but teams that can over and over again get 15-20 play seven-minute scoring drives.

Also, there is no such thing as depth these days, so a few key injuries to skilled position players can literally mean the difference between worst and first.

Indianapolis and Denver entered 2001 as among the favorites to win the Super Bowl and rightfully so. However, neither made the postseason and not surprisingly. Both teams were devastated by injuries.

Indianapolis became the quintessential team that put up seemingly impressive stats, but knowledgeable handicappers and football fans know that there is a big difference between impressive fantasy football numbers and quality statistics for winning on the field and with the offshore book.

Great offenses keep defenses off of the field. The greatest team of all time was the 1972 Miami Dolphins, who not-so-coincidently had the greatest ball control team ever.

They gained an average of 5.6 yards per play. Their fourth leading rusher averaged 5.3 yards per carry. The reason their "No Name Defense" was so successful was because you don't give up many points or much yardage when you are standing on the sidelines watching your offense meticulously move those yard markers.

Great offenses are not measured by points scored. There are no official statistics, but much like the complicated quarterback ratings, a more accurate formula for measuring a successful offense would take strongly into account points per possession and average length of each possession.

There is a colossal difference average points per game and average points per possession. Likewise, there is a monster divergence between time of possession and length of each possession.

The best, if not the only way to slow down the Indianapolis Colts when all their pieces are healthy is to take them out of a rhythm. If Peyton Manning is watching seven minute drives by his opponent from the sidelines, not only can he not develop a groove, but he will not throw too many touchdown passes from the sidelines.

The best defense is not just a great offense; it is a great ball control offense. But yes, long drives punctuated by scores are the best defense because it is a lot easier to play defense with a big lead when the other team's options are limited.

When of the biggest gifts when it comes to NFL totals is when it comes to a stud ball control offensive player is hurt, most people falsely assume that their games become lower scoring. False. Often teams have to compensate by opening it up more. So often a star running back or tight end goes down, yet a team's points per game average goes up after they injury. They still have the aptitude to score, but not an ability to keep their suspect defense off of the field.

While the chic media told you how disappointing Denver's defense was the year after back-to-back Super Bowl wins, there is not question if Terrell Davis and Ed McCaffrey were healthy, not to mention if John Elway had not retired, magically the Broncos would have had some of the best defensive stats in the league.

The Ravens of 2001-02 and the Patriots of 2002-03, were considered defensive oriented teams, one must consider the factors. There were just were not any great healthy, note healthy offenses out there, so some mediocre team had to win by default.

Not to mention, we all saw clearly that the Ravens missed chain-moving Jamal Lewis and that the Patriots "defense" suddenly improved when Tom Brady looked like the greatest Cinderella story since Kurt Warner.

This is not to mention that the Ravens became the ultimate aberration of winning a championship with a mediocre offense with a defense that some say was the best ever.

Plus, let's face it, Brian Billick one of the game's top offense minds, proved you can get blood from a stone by somehow making (gulp) Trent Dilfer a mistake-free quarterback.

All things considered, the Ravens Super Bowl Champs were much better defensively than offensively, but Jamal Lewis' smash-mouth, ball control is exactly the type of running back that keeps defenses where they perform best: the sidelines.

Looking for great defensive stats then get a great ball control offense. But the most important caveat is that that offense has to stay healthy. The Cowboys of the early 90's and the Broncos of the late 90's are perfect examples. The difference between a team among the bottom statistically on defense and at the top is a great quarterback, running back and receivers/tight ends. Both the aforesaid teams more than met that.

Want another undefeated Super Bowl team like the 1972 Dolphins? Two thousand yard rushers (in a 14-game schedule) and someone the caliber of Jim Kiick as a third option would do the trick. Add two parts much better than average QB's like Bob Greise and Earl Morrall. Throw in nice receiving corps and I give you another No Name Defense with any starting unit in the NFL.

But what does this mean in handicapping? Again, as alluded to, convoluted logic so often applies to totals when a key offensive player is hurt. In many cases, it increases the likelihood of points being scored contrary to popular belief.

The same is true on the other side of the ball. If a run-stopping middle linebacker is hurt, it often will mean that the other team will run more. It may mean that they will have more success on offense but not necessarily score more points. It could mean more ball control, thus fewer total possessions.

Good handicappers must evaluate any and all injuries in their totality. Bookmakers make a fortune because suckers assume that if a key offensive player is hurt, it is likely to mean fewer points or if a key defensive player is out, it means more points.

The sportsbook oddsmakers know and adjust accordingly. Joe Q Public adjusts incorrectly. But someone has to subsidize the winnings of pro bettors.

Inspirational Poems Are Just Irresistible

Hotel Murah di Lampung - It was just after noon when the young President's limousine made its way into a depository. He had stopped twice to shake hands with some nuns and school children. Suddenly, shots were fired; and at 1 p.m. President Kennedy was proclaimed dead.

Overnight, the number of inspirational poetry written about the president and the assassination that were received by the press could make up a few volumes of books. The question is, why poetry? Why not other forms of writing? What do you gain from writing or even reading one?

Let's discover why poems are just irresistible during time of confusion and hardships.

It makes you feel better inside.

When we experience difficult time in our lives, sometimes we say that words just couldn't express our feeling. That's exactly right – if we're trying to write a sentence or article. But not poems. It gives you freedom to write in fragments. It let your emotions out, freely and easily.

If you look at some of the most famous poets, inspirational verses that they write are almost related to their personal grief or difficult situation they experience.

Let's take Helen Rice. Well known as the “poet laureate of inspirational verses” and famous for her motivational words, Helen Rice was writing those word of strength for her own self as well as for her readers. Those verses were written during the Great Depression when her rich young husband lost all his fortune in the stock market crash. Mounting debts forced Helen to work while her jobless and depressed husband lived in isolation and later committed suicide.

Her motivational and inspiring verses are words written not only to sooth the hearts of her readers but also to let go off the hardship that she felt inside. It was only through poems that she could channeled her voice during the hard time. Those poems actually made her feel good inside.

Inspirational poems give you hope and faith

If you know any ex-soldiers who had been to war, I'd like to ask you a favor. Go and talk to any one of them. And ask them if they knew any poems. You'd be surprised if they tell you that they memorize several and had written a few.

Prisoners of wars (POW) are known to memorized poems or write one during their hard time in war camps. Apart from religious verses, poetry is another form of written words that could give them hope. It keeps their faith and more importantly their sanity!

US prisoner of war at Vietnam was known to pass along a poem called Invictus by Earnest Henley for morale boost. Meaning “unconquerable”, the poem begins like this,

Out of the night that covers me,

Black as the Pit from pole to pole,

I thank whatever gods may be

For my unconquerable soul.

When you're deprived from the freedom of outside world and contact with your fellow colleague is limited, you need motivational words to strengthen your wills. Poems like Invictus are just what the doctor ordered.

It Heals Aching Hearts

Nowadays, poems are being used in a few hospitals around the world as a form of therapy. Similar to art therapy, the aim is to make patients feel more open in expressing their feelings. “Difficult” patients were said to be more approachable and showed improved attitude when they were enrolled in such programs.

Poetry therapy is a form of therapy to help heals aching hearts. It helps you get rid off burden from your chest. Overall, it makes you feel better!

Poems Touches Your Heart

Can you tell me how many essays touch your heart? Yes, there might be a few that makes you wept but they are hardly memorable! But it's a different thing with poems. It's easily memorable and makes you want top pass it along to friends.

I give you an example. Have you heard the poem called “An Interview With God”? This classic poem had touched the hearts of millions of people. The owner of a website that created a presentation of the poem had been able to distribute this poem to millions of people around the world just by word of mouth. The reason is simple - it touches people’s heart. The impact of the poem is so incredible that the site owner made multimillion dollars from products derived from the poem.

Okay, I understand your problem. Some poems may make you dizzy, left you mentally tired and leaves nothing but a confused brain and tied tongue. But not all poems are like that. Most inspirational poems by poets like Edgar Guest, Ella Wheeler Wilcox and Helen Rice are easily readable but still carry strong impact and have deep message embedded in them.

Unlike an essay where you have to be concern about your grammar and paragraph, you can just express yourself freely with poems because it's just like your heart's intimate diary. If you can't write one, just read one. At this internet age, a quick search and a click of a button at the search engine is all you need to get an inspirational poem in a snap. So, tarry no more. Let's go and read one right now!

Mentally Retarded Teen Gets 100 Years

Hotel di Tangerang - Mentally Disabled Youth with IQ Of 47, Allowed to Plead Guilty to Sexual Assault of a Child, Judge Orders Sentences to be Served Consecutively

By: Houston Criminal Defense Attorney John Floyd and Paralegal Billy Sinclair

The jury said it did not like the sentencing options made available to it. The judge said he was not pleased that he had to sentence an 18-year-old Paris, Texas teenager to 100 years in prison. The district attorney said he “sympathized” with teenager’s situation but it had to be remembered that he “committed a violent sexual crime against a little boy.”

What exactly did Aaron Hart do? A neighbor said she discovered the mentally retarded teenager, who has an IQ of 47, fondling her stepson last November. Hart was arrested and charged with five counts of aggravated sexual assault of a child and indecency with a child.

Hart’s attorney allowed the mentally disabled youth to plead guilty at the punishment phase of his trial but elected to have the jury assess punishment at the penalty phase. After hearing all the evidence, jurors were not convinced that prison was the best option for Hart. They sent notes to the judge requesting guidance on possible alternatives to imprisonment. Jurors told the media following the trial that the judge’s responses did not provide them with any “clear answers.” They assumed the judge would impose concurrent sentences on the five convictions.

But that is not what the judge did. He sentenced Hart to 5-year terms on two counts and 30-year terms on three counts. The judge ordered the sentences to be served consecutively for a total of 100 years. Lamar Count Judge Eric Clifford’s offered the lame excuse that he didn’t believe he had any other sentencing options because “in the state of Texas, there isn’t a whole lot you can do with people like him.”

This case begs appellate intervention. Media reports did not explain why his attorney allowed him to plead guilty at the guilt phase. The guilty plea itself raises serious questions. Hart never learned how to read or write and has had a 47 IQ since he was a child. “He couldn’t understand the seriousness of what he did,” Aaron’s father Robert told the Dallas Morning News. “I never dreamed they would think about sending him to prison. When they said 100 years—it was terror, pure terror, to me.”

What does the law say?

The Texas Court of Criminal Appeals has defined mental retardation as a disability characterized by: 1) “significantly subaverage” general intellectu8al functioning; 2) accompanied by “related” limitations in adaptive functioning; 3) the onset of which occurs prior to the age 16. 1/

With a 47 IQ, young Aaron Hart certainly fell within this definition of mental retardation. While Texas law presumes that a criminal defendant is mentally competent to stand trial unless incompetence is proven by a preponderance of the evidence, Article 46B.003(b) of the Texas Code of Criminal Procedure, state law also prohibits a trial court from accepting a guilty plea unless it appears the defendant is mentally competent, Article 26.13(b) of the Code of Criminal Procedure.

Article 46B.003 of the Code of Criminal Procedure states that a criminal defendant is incompetent to stand trial if he/she lacks the ability to confer with his/her attorney with a reasonable degree of rational understanding of the proceedings being taken against him/her. And Article 46B.004(c) of the Code of Criminal Procedure provides that if any evidence comes to the attention of the trial court suggesting incompetence, the judge must determine by informal inquiry whether there is “some evidence” from any source that would suggest the defendant is incompetent to stand trial.

The judge in Hart’s case certainly had some evidence of incompetency with Hart’s 47 IQ. This was made clear by the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals when it held that evidence of incompetency is usually sufficient if it shows “recent severe mental illness, at least moderate mental retardation, or truly bizarre acts by the defendant.” 2/

Aaron Hart was more than moderately retarded. He was severely retarded. There is no plausible justification for a trial court accepting a guilty plea at the punishment phase by an 18-year-old illiterate teenager with a 47 IQ. The very purpose of these state laws, which were enacted to protect mentally disabled and incompetent individuals from being abused by the legal system, were undermined by the trial judge’s acceptance of Hart’s guilty plea.

For more than three decades, the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals has held that a defendant’s mental impairment is a major factor to be considered in determining whether he/she is capable of understanding the relinquishment of any constitutional right. 3/ With this precedent so clearly established, it is difficult to understand, first, why Hart’s attorney elected to waive his client’s constitutional right to have his guilt decided by a jury, and, second, why the court without apparent question accepted the guilty plea at the punishment stage.

Clearly, young Hart had a possible defense of incompetency based on severe mental retardation. The State of Texas had the burden to prove beyond a reasonable doubt that the mentally challenged young man could form the necessary requisite intent to commit the crimes he was charged with. The jury had serious reservations about the case based in the limited evidence it heard during the punishment phase. Had jurors heard Hart testify in his own behalf, listened to the victim’s testimony, and weighed expert testimony on the issue of mental retardation, it is more than like they would have found him not guilty because he was unable to form the requisite intent the crimes demanded. The jurors specifically stated they wanted alternatives to imprisonment. A trial on the evidence would have given them clear alternatives—not guilty verdict, or a guilty verdict to lesser charges.

Once again the Texas criminal justice system had been held out to national and international criticism. The State already leads the nation with the most DNA exonerations, the most executions in America, one of the most abusive juvenile incarceration systems in the country, a score of recently convicted sheriffs and district attorneys sent off to prison, a host of questionable shooting deaths and beating deaths by the police, and laundry list of other corrupt practices by those charged with administering “justice” in the state.

We can only hope that either a court of appeals or the Court of Criminal Appeals will vacate Aaron Hart’s conviction and remand the case for a new trial. We also pray that the young man will not be abused in the state’s overcrowded and violent prison system while his case works its way through the appeal process.

SOURCES:

1/ Ex parte Briseno, 135 S.W.3d 1 (Tex.Crim.App. 2004)

2/ McDaniel v. State, 98 S.W.3d 704 (Tex.Crim.App. 2003)

3/ Bizzarri v. State, 492 S.W.2d 944 (Tex.Crim.App.1973)

Weather Vane – Just The Outdoor Accessory To Make Your House Stand Out

Hotel di Bekasi - will give you about As you look down your street, you realize that every house on your block is pretty similar. Sure, that can be nice, but maybe you want yours to stand out a little bit. Well, there is an easy way to do it and it doesn’t involve painting or remodeling. All you have to do is purchase a weather vane for your home.

Really, a weather vane is a great option for making your home stand out from the rest. How is this possible you might be asking? There are actually a couple of different reasons really, the first of which is that there are many stylish options to choose from. For example, maybe you are really into hunting and fishing. You could go with one that is in the shape of a bear, another that looks like a goose, and even one that is in the shape of a rainbow trout. Or, maybe you are into airplanes, then a great choice for you would be hi-wing plane or even a low in plane if you like.

The style options with a weather vane does not stop there either. A few other selections include nautical options like sailboats and lighthouses, additional animals including horses, chickens, and any other animal you might want, and you can even get collegiate ones that are in the shape of your team’s logo.

Another thing that makes a weather vane such an appealing outdoor accessory is the lovely materials that it can be crafted from. One of the most popular materials is copper, which has a bright shiny appearance when new and over time weathers to a beautiful patina or verdigris color. Along with copper, there are other stunning material choices too and they are aluminum and steel, the both of which have nice shining appearances and can even be hand painted to create unique looking selections.

Now you might not know it, but a weather vane also comes in different sizes. Like, if you wanted to put one on the roof of your house, then you would go with a full bodied larger one. However, if you want to put one on a deck rail or in a garden, then a smaller one that isn’t full bodied would be the way to go. There are medium sized versions as well, ideal for putting on garages, and a fantastic way to see all the choices is by hitting the internet for some online shopping. You can breeze through all the choices without much trouble at all and what’s great is that when you do come across something you like, it will generally be at the best prices possible. Plus, your selection will be shipped right to your home. Basically, shopping has never been so convenient.

In the end, if you want your home to be a little different from everyone else’s, make sure that it is in a good way. And, a great way for doing just that is with a beautiful weather vane. There are a ton of eye-catching selections to choose from that will have everyone looking at your house for all the right reasons.