There’s
a movement out there to try to get Mike Ditka
in the Illinois governor’s office in place of current enterprising governor
Rod Blagojevich.

Ditka’s qualifications, of course, are many. He’s got a career record of
121-95 as a head coach in the NFL. He seems like a fair-minded guy. He was
strongly considered as a candidate to run against Barack Obama for a U.S. Senate
seat in 2004. He’s got a fantastic mustache. From what I can tell, he’s fluent
in two languages, English and Emmitt.
And if it came to it, he could probably afford to buy the spot. I heard that
happens sometimes in Illinois.

The website, dagoverner.com, has this
message:

We da people of Illinois are sick and tired of scumbag politicians who think dat it’s their job to lie, cheat and steal. No more! We deserve somebody in charge who we can trust. Somebody who we can depend on. Somebody who we know understands the difference between right and wrong and won’t be afraid to kick corruption in the ass harder than da ‘85 Bears beat down da Patriots in da Super Bowl! 

Dat’s right, my friends. Da man for da job is Coach Ditka. So let’s make it happen! Ditka for Governor!!

It also has a lot of "Ditka for Governor" merchandise for sale.
It’s probably worth noting that Ditka’s said nothing himself about wanting to be
governor, and isn’t thought to be a serious candidate. Given that, one might
think that the primary purpose of the website would be to sell merchandise. But
I don’t think anyone would ever use the internet in a less-than-honest way.

Gracias, Critical
Fanatic.

Today is going to be one of the coldest days of the year. There is snow in some places; cold weather and nasty winds in others. If you go a little further south, you can get your race on in the big easy.

On a Sunday afternoon, racetracks normally do an average to below day of handle. With the cancellations that will light up the board, Fairgrounds will be happy to have its doors open.

With 11 races, and 3 turf races carded things can still be a whole lot sweeter for a horse player.

Now of course you can watch the NFL, but nothing beats catching Louisiana-bred paying boxcars. The game is ripe for the picking. The pools should reflect well, and that means that you should see the exotic pools swell. Yes, that is right. A Pick-3 that normally pays $50 will be in the high $80’s. Don’t believe me, just tune in and take a look at the action.

I would stay away from getting your hopes up for Chicago even if they plan to run. They are looking at a high of 8 degrees, and Turfway Park cancelled Sunday afternoon when the feature race on Saturday was complete.

You can always count on California later in the day, but you should kick things off with WinningPonies.com and focus on the action. I think this Sunday has Fairgrounds written all over it….

Did I forget about the sunshine state? Oh, Calder only has 10 sweet races, and three of which are carded for the turf.

What more could you ask for? The weather is terrible across the nation, but the action is still hot. Dial up WinningPonies.com and get in the game. Don’t put away that bankroll just yet. Santa may be paying you a visit a little early. Good luck….

Another NFL prime time game went into overtime, with the Chicago Bears winning 20-17 over the Green Bay Packers in the extra frame but failing to cover as 4-point faves.

The Total was set at 41 and went Under and the Bears are still in the playoff hunt.

Sometimes an official, through no fault of his own, will get caught up in the
middle of a play and inadvertently make contact with a player. Sometimes an official just
feels like making a tackle. Sometimes an
official is concerned that a player has been programmed to kill the Queen of
England and is forced to take matters into his own hands.

Whatever happened yesterday, here are some terrific action shots of NFL umpire
Lieutenant Frank Drebin Garth DeFelice taking out Rams running back Kenneth
Darby yesterday. Getty Images photographer Dilip Vishwanat was johnny-on-the-spot
yesterday, and the world thanks for him for it.

And here’s
video of the incident at Black Sports Online.

Thank you NFL flex schedule! The league sure chose a potentially great matchup for this week’s Sunday nighter with the Carolina Panthers on the road vs. the New York Giants.

The Panthers–who are listed at +3–have gone 2-0 SU and ATS in the Big Apple dating back to 2003 and with both teams sitting at 11-3, the game could affect homefield for the playoffs.