Jon Solomon of CBS Sports discusses how it"s impossible to identify who has won the most national titles in college football. Alabama claims 15, but three of them aren"t recognized by the NCAA, which doesn"t have anything to do with championships anyway. If Notre Dame counted titles the way Alabama does, the Fighting Irish would have 10 more championships. Instead, the NCAA recognizes Alabama and Notre Dame tied with 12.
CHARLOTTE, N.C. Carolina Panthers general manager Dave Gettleman was quick to remind that media and fans killed me" during the offseason when he signed Michael Oher to play left tackle.
He was just as quick to say that Oher was his best offseason move.
One of the things you have to do, you have to understand, is you cant always go from A to Z," Gettleman said on Thursday. Sometimes, when youre evaluating players and youre looking at them, sometimes you can only increase incrementally.
Michael has been a huge [addition] for us and settled us down."
Oher didnt look like much of an upgrade over Byron Bell when the Panthers signed the 2009 first-round pick after the Tennessee Titans released him. Critics insisted Gettleman should take a tackle with the 25th pick of the draft.
Gettleman took a linebacker, Shaq Thompson.
Pro Football Focus ranked Oher, the player that the 2009 Hollywood movie The Blind Side" was written about, 75th among 84 eligible tackles.
PFF gave Oher a grade of 53 out of 80 tackles in 2012, when he played left tackle for the Baltimore Ravens Super Bowl team.
Critics pounced on the Panthers" signing of Michael Oher last year, but he"s protected Cam Newton well.Bob Leverone/AP Photo
Oher"s high mark was 15th in 2009, with a grade of plus-17.1.
But Gettleman studied almost three seasons worth of film on Oher. He was convinced that reuniting Oher with former Ravens offensive line coach John Matsko and getting him fully recovered from a toe injury that was a factor in 2014 would pay off.
He was convinced Oher could protect quarterback Cam Newtons blind side.
He was right.
Oher had a PFF pass blocking efficiency of 95.7 -- four sacks, three hits and 24 hurries to rank 17th among the 59 eligible tackles.
That made Ohers two-year, $7 million contract a bargain, considering the 17th-best-paid left tackle (San Diegos King Dunlap) made $7 million this season.
Oher played his best in the regular-season finale against Tampa Bay, earning a grade of plus-3.4, not allowing a single quarterback pressure. His previous high was 0.5 in Week 8.
You guys see it," Gettleman said. You guys have been around Cam his whole career. You see the confidence he has when he sets up behind those five hog mollies. ... Its a sight to behold."
Oher wasnt aware of how much heat Gettleman took for signing him. He was more focused on the way his new teammates and the community welcomed him after a tough season at Tennessee.
All that stuff motivated me with the players and the city," Oher said. I didnt want to let the guys down."
He hasnt. Tight end Greg Olsen said Oher has been huge for us."
We learned that pretty fast," the Pro Bowl tight end said. Just the way he conducted his business."
One of Ohers strengths has been his work ethic. Hes one of the first to arrive at the stadium during the week, often getting there before daybreak.
He spent most of this bye week trying to improve as the Panthers (15-1) wait to find out who they will play on Jan. 17.
Ive still got to get a lot better," Oher said. People around me have helped me out a lot this year because theyve done so well. Me as a person, as a player, I still have to get a lot better, just looking at me on film."
He doesnt want Gettleman or Newton to get killed because of him.
The guy who prepared your tax return came through big time. Not only was he cheap, he got you ahuge refund, way more than you expected.
How did he do it? You"d know if you could take a look at your return, the one he had you sign inadvance. That"s odd, you don"t have any kids to deduct. And this company on your W-2 that took outtoo much tax? You never worked there.
The magic was fraud fictional dependents and employers, overstated credits and fake W-2s.
A favorite target of these unscrupulous tax preparers are low-to-moderate wage workers and theearned-income tax credit that benefits them, according to the Internal Revenue Service. By its ownestimate, the IRS said the error rate on earned-income tax credit returns can be as high as 27percent.
In 2014, about $18 billion in overpayments were sent out. Some were unintentional, some werecases of fraud.
For about seven weeks beginning in January 2011, Brandon Hamilton and Kenitha Ferguson operatedthe In and Out tax agency at 1687 Oak St. on the Near East Side. They processed more than 20fraudulent 2010 tax returns, according to a federal indictment. That was enough time to steal$132,000 in undeserved tax refunds, which they split between themselves and their clients,prosecutors said.
Hamilton pleaded guilty last week in U.S. District Court in Columbus to conspiring to defraudthe government. The maximum penalty is 10 years in prison and a $250,000 fine. Ferguson pleaded notguilty and was released on bond.
Prosecutors said In and Out advertised on Facebook, by word of mouth and through recruiters whowere paid to line up customers.
Hamilton might face prison. His clients might face a government lawsuit to recover theoverpayments.
"Each taxpayer is accountable for their own tax return," IRS Special Agent Craig Casserly said."As this case progresses, we would look at all the clients" tax returns."
Dan Brown, an assistant U.S. attorney who prosecutes IRS cases, said, "In the long run, theywill have damaged their clients, and the IRS will go after those clients for the money andpenalties."
The IRS operates "scheme development centers" across the country, where investigators look foranomalies such as an unusually large number of earned-income tax-credit filings in a certain ZIPcode, or from the same preparer, Casserly said.
The agency investigated 266 alleged cases of preparer fraud nationwide in fiscal year 2015. Ofthose, 204 defendants were convicted, and 80 percent of them went to prison. The average prisonterm was 27 months.
The arrest numbers could be higher if the agency had more agents, Casserly said. Congressionalbudget cuts have reduced the ranks almost 14 percent through attrition during the past five years.There are about 2,100 agents for the current fiscal year.
"Still, we are doing a good job of prosecuting these individuals," Casserly said, "and we thinkother people are seeing this and getting out of the (fraud) business."
There are several red flags that honest taxpayers should heed when seeking a preparer, Casserlysaid. Ask them for their required "preparer tax identification number," do not sign a blank returnand check the completed return for accuracy.
And make sure the government refund check is sent to you. If a preparer gets the check, he orshe could skim off some of the refund money for themselves.
"Look at the deductions. Do you actually have kids?" Casserly said. He said he knows of cases inwhich people who didn"t plan to file a return "loaned out" their children"s identities to taxpreparers.
Backblaze, my preferred cloud backup service for a few years now, is today making it a bit easier and cheaper to restore all of your data if your computer should ever crash or get lost / stolen. The company has always let subscribers ($5 per month) pay $189 to receive an external hard drive with a full copy of their backup. But maybe you don"t need yet another external drive that"ll just end up sitting around collecting dust. So now Backblaze is giving customers another option: send it back within 30 days for a full refund.
You"ve got to cover shipping costs for the drive"s return trip, unfortunately, but this still makes for a pretty convenient way of getting your stuff back in a jam. Of course, this being a cloud service, Backblaze always gives you the ability to download your files directly from the company"s website at no charge, but that can be a bit slow and frustrating depending on your broadband connection. Having a drive shipped to your door avoids Comcast yelling at you for downloading gigabytes upon gigabytes of data. And if you actually want to keep the drive to use for a local backup, perhaps (which you should always have) you can just eat the $189 charge and hang onto it.
Backblaze claims this service is unique among its competition, with Crashplan recently having phased out the option for "Home" subscribers to restore via mailed hard drive. Backblaze has backed up over 200 petabytes of customer data through its unique storage pod system, and says it"s made over 10 billion data restorations. Having used it for some time now, I can vouch that it"s pretty great. Once the initial backup is finished, you"ll barely ever notice that it"s open, quietly keeping your files safe in the background.
Lost Media Chronicles Episode 8 - Christine Chubbuck Suicide (1974) [NOT ACTUAL VIDEO]
On July 15, 1974, 29-year-old Sarasota TV reporter Christine Chubbuck spoke to the camera: In keeping with Channel 40s policy of bringing you the latest in blood and guts and in living color, youre going to see another firstattempted suicide. Chubbuck put a pistol to her head and pulled the trigger.
Chubbucks hair-raising on-air suicide has inspired not one but two newfilms, both being shown later this month at the Sundance Film Festival. One,Christine, is a dramaticrecreation of Chubbucks final days, with Rebecca Hall (who starred inThe Town andIron Man 3) portraying Chubbuck and directorAntonio Campos behind the camera.The second film, Robert Greene"sKate Plays Christine, is a documentary, but far removed from your typical talking-head piece. The movie follows the actress Kate Lyn Sheil (best known for a role onHouse of Cards) as she prepares to play the role of Chubbuck, visiting Sarasota and attempting to understand her suicide. Greene knows Sarasota well; he participated in the 2014 Sarasota Film Festival, where he showed the similarly styled documentary Actress.
Neither of the two new movies is the first to grapple with Chubbucks grisly act; her death loosely inspired the 1976 filmNetwork. But both Sundance films are set in Sarasota, showcasing a b****y and disturbing chapter in the citys history. We"ll be watching.
Vince Young = BROKE 1/25/2016 7:35 AM PST BY TMZ STAFF
Breaking News
Ex-NFL starVince Young was arrested for DUI in Texas early Monday morning ... and is still behind bars.
TMZ Sportsconfirmed Young was pulled over in a white Chevy Silverado by Austin cops around midnight. He was booked for DUI at the Travis County jail. Police told KXAN that officers saw Young drifting across lanes while doing 40 to 60 mph.
Police also described Young as being uncooperative once officers pulled him over. He refused to take a breathalyzer. His bail was set at $2,000.
Officers say Young showed several signs of intoxication during the stop -- including, "thick tongued" speech, swaying and mumbling.
Cops also say Young started the "Walk and turn" test -- but refused to continue after losing his balance.
Young returned to his alma mater, University of Texas, in 2014 to work on recruiting.
Erica Kinsman Facebook Jameis Winston Accuser Party Girl The Hunting Ground Ignored
Photo: KEVIN MAZUR/MTV1415/WIREIMAGE.
Major News: The pair behind those Planned Parenthood "sting" videos has been indicted.
On Monday, a grand jury in Texas indicted two anti-abortion activists behind falsified "sting" videos that sparked a probe into Planned Parenthood"s practices, reports The Houston Chronicle. The grand jury cleared Planned Parenthood of wrongdoing, and instead indicted secret videographers David Daleiden and Sandra Merritt on charges of tampering with a government record. (Read More)
Here At Home: Florida State University reached a $950,000 settlement in a civil lawsuit over the way it handled a sexual assault investigation.
Florida State University reached a $950,000 settlement with Erica Kinsman, who filed a Title IX lawsuit against the school last year over the way it handled her sexual assault investigation. In her lawsuit, Kinsman claimed Florida State wanted "to protect the football program," resulting in a lack of charges. The New York Times uncovered a long list of errors and procedural missteps in the school"s investigation. (Read More)
Feminism FTW: The Oxford Dictionary is reviewing its use of the phrase "rabid feminist" after being called out on Twitter.
The negative connotation behind the word "rabid" didn"t stop the Oxford Dictionary from using the term "rabid feminists" in an example sentence on the word"s entry. On January 20, Michael Oman-Reagan, whose Twitter bio says he is a PhD student at Memorial University, suggested that "feminist" might not be the best word to pair with "rabid" in the dictionary"s examples. (Read More)
Pro-Tip: There may be a health benefit to deep-frying your veggies in extra-virgin olive oil.
According to a recent study, there may be at least one health benefit to deep-frying your veggies as long as you use extra-virgin olive oil, reports Popular Science. Researchers found that the veggies" fat content increased when they had been deep-fried and sauted, but that they also had higher levels of antioxidant phenols. (Read More)
Weird, But True: People are turning colors after using Lush beauty products.
It looks like a love for Lush is turning some customers red in the face quite literally. The frenzy started last Sunday, when U.K. customer Abi Shenton tweeted a selfie in which she resembles a stick of bubblegum come to life. As it turns out, Shenton simply didn"t use the product correctly and mistook the Razzle Dazzle Bath Oil she had purchased for a soap. But Shenton"s color-changing isn"t an isolated incident. (Read More)
Must See: A cop in Ecuador rescued an adorable, lost sloth.
Photos of a lost sloth in Ecuador are going viral, and it"s not hard to see why. The sloth"s picture-perfect smile has warmed the hearts of thousands of Facebook users. Ecuador"s transit commission shared the images of the remarkably cute sloth over the weekend. The commission"s photos have gained thousands of likes and shares across the globe. (Read More)
ICYMI: Kim Kardashian and Chrissy Teigen got into a discussion over Twitter about some not-so-great aspects of #momlife.
Kim Kardashian has never been shy about her own pregnancy struggles or about life as a new mom to her little girl North and her new baby boy, Saint West. So it"s no surprise that she decided to share some of her newfound wisdom with good friend and mom-to-be Chrissy Teigen. The two got into a discussion over Twitter about some not-so-great aspects of #momlife after Kardashian tweeted, This 4 am feeding really kills me. Im like delirious.(Read More)
Icebreaker: Bernie Sanders now has his own ice cream flavor.
Bernie Sanders is getting an ice cream from an icon in the field. Ben Cohen, one half of Ben & Jerrys, masterminded Bernies Yearning, a pint of mint ice cream covered with a thick disc of solid chocolate. Ben & Jerrys, the company, is not in any way affiliated with the ice cream. Cohen donated 25 pints to Bernies campaign and is raffling off 15 more. (Read More)
