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• Today is Tommy Henderson’s birthday. He was probably my best friend in elementary school. I don’t think I’ve seen him since middle school. It’s funny the things that stick with you. You’re probably telling me I should contact him on Facebook. Well, I’m that one friend who doesn’t have a Facebook profile or account or whatever they are called.
• I saw something about Michael Jordan that led me to research how many games he won with a three-pointer buzzer-beater. Before I reveal the answer, let me first ask you a rhetorical question: how many game-winning buzzer-beaters did Michael Jordan have in his career? There isn’t one person in NBA history who has made more game-winners at the buzzer than Michael Jordan. According to Basketball Reference, Jordan made a total of nine game-winning buzzer-beaters in his Hall of Fame career, which is the most in NBA history. I thought that was a low number, and I would have guessed something in the teens. Kobe Bryant and Joe Johnson rank second with eight each, followed by LeBron James and Paul Piece with seven each. All nine of Jordan’s game-winning buzzer-beaters came outside of the paint, and only two of them were three-pointers.
• Jason Kelce was a proud Philadelphia Eagle. He now works for Monday Night Football and checks on tailgates before each game. He does a pretty cool thing, wearing a jersey honoring a former great of the home team. The next Monday night game is Dallas, so this will be interesting. I couldn’t find if he did the bit the last time the Cowboys hosted a Monday night game, which was last month against Houston. This Monday night, there’s a Simpsons tie-in; somehow, the game is going to be simulated as if it’s in Springfield. The NFL did it last year with a Toy Story theme with the Falcons and Jaguars.

ESPN, Disney, The Simpsons and the National Football League will premiere The Simpsons Funday Football on Monday, Dec. 9, an animated Monday Night Football game transformed in real-time into the iconic Simpsons world using Sony’s Beyond Sports Technology. Atoms Stadium in Springfield will host the fully immersive fan viewing experience featuring the Cincinnati Bengals at the Dallas Cowboys, ESPN’s Monday Night Football game that evening.

• College football has forever changed and you’ll be seeing more stuff like this in the future, like it or not: Shedeur Sanders Buys $200,000 Luxury Car for Colorado Offensive Lineman
• I thought the screenshots of the app were interesting: I tried an AI Death Clock that told me when I’ll die

The Death Clock app, available for download in Google and Apple stores, analyzes life choices users regularly make, their past habits, health conditions and family history of disease to ‘accurately’ determine when they will die.

Users are asked to put in a number of health markers like their cholesterol and blood-sugar levels, as well as their workout schedule, water intake, mental health and the current state of their romantic and plutonic relationships.

The app is backed by data from 1,200 international life expectancy studies that looked at 53 million participants, including information from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

To my surprise, the reaper informed me I’ll live to the ripe old age of 101 and even went so far as to tell me how I will die – cancer, cardiovascular disease or another chronic condition – and provided a running countdown to my death day.

• Man, I’ve been busy lately and just haven’t had time to commit to blogging. Work-related stuff is taking up a lot of bandwidth, especially outside of normal working hours. Today, I’m just going to throw some stuff at the wall and see what sticks.
• I was expecting President Biden to go back on his word and pardon his son, Hunter. However, I didn’t expect it to happen last night. If anything, I would have thought he would have released the news on Black Friday when nobody pays attention to the news or his last days in office. I haven’t had a lot of time to think about it, but offhand, I think it’s a smart political move. If Republicans are in an uproar about the abuse of presidential pardons, they are about to take over the White House and Congress next month and do something about it. But they won’t, and it’s not all that different than Trump pardoning his son-in-law’s father in 2020, who will become our ambassador to France in the new administration.
• Punching a player with a helmet really isn’t that effective.
  

  The Notre Dame way pic.twitter.com/K7NcX7q7fc

  — Footballism (@FootbaIIism) November 30, 2024

• Stanford brings ex-star QB Andrew Luck ‘home’ as new GM

Luck, 35, has accepted a newly created role at Stanford, which will place him above the entire program and is a distinct evolution from the traditional college general manager role. The hire could loom as a harbinger for structural changes in college football front offices across the sport.

Luck’s role involves everything Stanford football touches, football-wise and business-wise. The football-specific duties will include managing the coaching staff, the player personnel staff, recruiting, roster management and the student-athlete experience.

This will be interesting to watch since college football has changed so much recently with NIL and conference changes. One thing the article failed to mention was how much his father’s background as an executive for pro and college football teams and conferences may have played. I’m still ticked he was robbed of the Heisman Trophy twice.

• The aftermath of divorce continues to make holidays challenging. With me, it’s not the relationship aspect; it’s the entire loss of family and seeing what my kids have to settle for.
• DaughterGeeding is a Stars fan, so I took her to a game. Since we don’t get to spend as much time together as I’d like, I splurged on tickets and took advantage of a Black Friday sale. Here are some pics. A lot of time I like to bring in my DSLR, but this time I only used my phone to snap pics.
   
• One thing I like to do during a game is track when a player gets on and off the ice. For those of you unfamiliar with the sport, they spend just about a minute on the ice before they go back to the bench. They expel that much energy and the game is very fluid. It was something hard for me to track, but the new video board does an exceptional job, as you can see at the bottom of the screen. When a player gets on the ice, their time is in white. After 30 seconds, it turns yellow and then red after 45 seconds. The longest I saw a play stay in was around a minute and 37 seconds. 
• Thirteen years in the SEC, and Texas A&M has yet to compete for an SEC championship. Texas punches its ticket in year one with a victory against the Aggies.
• Just a reminder that as much as aTm likes to tout that Kyle Field is an intimidating place to play and is some massive home-field advantage, the ESPN analysts beg to differ.
• As much as this state likes to brag about how great and storied this rivalry is, that is one crappy trophy to play for.
  
• There isn’t another school in the country as obsessed with someone else as A&M is with Texas. It’s such a little brother mentality. The last time the Aggies played the Horns, they lost by a last-second field goal on their home turf. They waited 13 years to get revenge and then got run over again on their home field. If you don’t think they got run over, look at the game stats. The Aggies didn’t even score on offense. Let’s not forget that the Aggies made it all the way to the baseball championship against Tennessee and lost, and then their baseball coach immediately left them for Austin. And three years ago, the A&M athletic director flew out to SEC Media Days to try to prevent Texas from joining the SEC.
• Arch Manning is doing things that hint he’s a legend in the making. On his first play as quarterback this season, he rushed for a touchdown, and on his first play against the Aggies, he rushed for a touchdown.
• An Aggie friend who has always been into high school and college bands, especially the Aggie band, sent me a text absolutely livid that the Longhorn band didn’t let the Aggie band finish playing their song when the Aggies marched onto the field, saying it was classless. I’m not sure what was behind it. It was a cruddy thing to do, but it sure did play into the whole rivalry/hatred thing. Of course, I could have followed up with this classless act by an Aggie at College Gameday. Here’s the backstory.It certainly pissed off the Texas players and provided extra motivation.
  

  A passionate Michael Taaffe speaks on the pregame sign.

  Longhorn Legend handling it the right way. pic.twitter.com/46LGykMcU6

  — CJ Vogel (@CJVogel_OTF) December 1, 2024

• Curious as to why Charles Schlutz named his comic Peanuts, because I always thought it was a horrible name, this was the best I could find:
  • A different name for the comic strip became necessary after legal advice confirmed that Little Folks was a registered trademark.[12] Meanwhile, the production manager of UFS noted the popularity of the children’s program Howdy Doody. The show featured an audience of children who were seated in the “Peanut Gallery”, and were referred to as “Peanuts”. This inspired the decided title that was forced upon Schulz, to his consternation. Schulz hated the title Peanuts, which remained a source of irritation to him throughout his life. He accused the production manager at UFS of not having even seen the comic strip before giving it a title, and he said that the title would only make sense if there was a character named “Peanuts”.
• Texas QB Quinn Ewers will have an MRI on his banged-up ankle today. There’s a chance Arch Manning may have to start against Little Brother A&M. That makes things interesting. But, from a coaching standpoint, I’m sure Sark, like any other coach, will keep it vague so that A&M has to spend time preparing for both quarterbacks. Not that they wouldn’t anyways, but not as much.
  

  Good luck vs. Texas! pic.twitter.com/FNgEw3Ufja

  — Auburn Football (@AuburnFootball) November 24, 2024

  
  Little Brother’s head coach with the Freudian slip was pretty funny last week. And yes, they did lose to underdog Auburn because they are A&M.

• I try my best to ask my friends how their spouses are doing and to say hello to me. But I’m not too fond of it when they are married to someone whose name has various spellings, like Derrick and Sheryl. While I remember their spouse’s name, I can’t remember how it’s spelled for the life of me. A few times, I’ve been vehemently rebuffed.
• I saw the LA Rams last night honored the St. Louis Rams Superbowl winning team. I’m sure that was awkward for both the fans and the team being celebrated.
• Saquon Barkley is the best player in the NFL, even better than that QB in KC. The Giants didn’t utilize him to the best of his ability, but Kellen Moore sure does know what to do with him.
• I’m rooting and predicting a Detroit and Buffalo Super Bowl.
• I think I’m going to the Stars game this Sunday. The Cowboys won’t be playing and it’s in the middle of the afternoon. Best of all, my daughter wants to go.
• I had to look up if Bill Cosby was still in jail. He’s not. But, he has certainly kept a very low profile.
• After posting that new Star Trek video, I went into a Star Trek wormhole. I wasn’t aware there is something called the Star Trek Kelvin Timeline.
• Dirty play.
  

  Kansas with a big hit on Shedeur Sanders pic.twitter.com/5jXVaGb1Rh

  — FOX College Football (@CFBONFOX) November 23, 2024

• As much as I enjoyed watching the Steelers and Browns play in the snow, I miss the days when Cleveland’s playing surface was horrendous and the players were covered in mud. The first picture is from the first quarter, and the second is from the third.
  
  
  
• University of Texas to provide free tuition for students from families earning $100,000 or less
  • The University of Texas System approved the plan Thursday to provide tuition-free education at all nine institutions for undergraduate students from families earning $100,000 or less a year, beginning next fall.
  • A group of current and incoming Texas lawmakers sent a letter to the Board of Regents Thursday questioning the constitutionality of the free tuition plan for students whose families earn $100,000 or less annually.
• Saber-Toothed Kitten Found After 35,000 Years in Permafrost
  In 2020, scientists made a groundbreaking discovery along the Badyarikha River in Yakutia, Russia. They unearthed the world’s first mummified saber-toothed kitten, a find that has revolutionized our understanding of these ancient predators. This isn’t just any ordinary fossil – the kitten’s remains are exceptionally well-preserved, with fur, whiskers, and claws intact.
  
• I thought I knew a lot about human death and the macabre, but these two surprised and creeped me out.14 Chilling Facts About the End of Life
  • Death’s Instant Replay
    • In rare and often traumatic deaths, an immediate and intense form of muscle stiffening called cadaveric spasm can occur and continue into rigor mortis. This phenomenon may preserve the last action a person took before dying, such as clutching a weapon or an object related to their demise. This macabre “snapshot” can offer crucial evidence in investigations, shedding light on the circumstances surrounding the death. Cadaveric spasm is a fascinating yet chilling example of how the body can sometimes retain a haunting echo of its final moments. It’s a reminder that death can be both a mystery and a source of crucial information.
  • The Coffin Birth
    • Also known as “postmortem fetal extrusion,” coffin birth is a rare phenomenon that occurs when gases build up inside the decomposing body of a pregnant woman, causing the fetus to be expelled. This gruesome event has been documented throughout history and often fueled superstitious beliefs. While the scientific explanation for coffin birth is straightforward, the historical accounts often include embellishments and folklore, reflecting the deep-seated fear and fascination surrounding death and the unknown.

• Even though I think this is pretty cool, the timing of these things often curses real life. In other words, I’m worried Shatner won’t make it through the end of the month.

  Via Trek Movie, we’ve learned that three decades after Star Trek: Generations hit theaters, the Roddenberry Archive, together with OTOY, has rectified this mistake with a short film called 765874 – Unification. Directed by Spanish filmmaker Carlos Baena, it was made with the involvement of Shatner himself, along with the Leonard Nimoy estate. This mostly silent short film will bring tears to the eyes of any longtime Star Trek fan. Especially those who wished Kirk and Spock could have had that one, final reunion. You can watch it in full above.Nerdist