A Championship Season for Champs

Yes, my friends. I am a long-suffering New York Jets football fan. My highlight was when I was 17, when my Jets surprised the world by following through on Broadway Joe's guarantee, that he would lead the underdog Jets on a cold and rainy January Sunday afternoon to a stunning 16-7 unbelievable win over the Don Shula-coached mighty Baltimore Colts.

Since then... a tease here and there, most recently, five Januarys ago when Mark Sanchez took the Jets into the third quarter of the AFC Championship game, trailing the Pittsburgh Steelers by a score of 24-0 and outscored the Steelers 19-0 from the middle of the third quarter on. But, Mark forgot, and so did the defense, that it is a 60 minute game, not 23 minutes.

I bring this up because the Jets' arch - rival New England Patriots are in the AFC Championship game this year and I am pulling for them to win. Yes, you read that right... I WANT THE PATRIOTS TO WIN.

I also am pulling for the legendary Green Bay Packers to beat the Seahawks. Why? Well, I think this would be the best Super Bowl ever played (since, of course, 1969) because in my view, the two best quarterbacks leading the two best teams would be playing each other.

After last year's debacle where Peyton Manning looked at the Seattle defense with the fear of God in his eyes, I think football fans deserve a classic game for the ages. Don't you?

Over the years, there have been surprises, games which went in a whole other way, where horrible offenses beat great defenses, where favorites were humiliated, where underdogs proved why they were, where an undefeated team lost to a wild card qualifier and in one magical year, a team went 17-0.

I have faith that two future Hall of Fame quarterbacks will give us a great Super Bowl. And that is my fervent hope in this NFC and AFC Championship games, that the end will be exactly that: Rodgers vs Brady.

I am pulling for you Tom, even as I know you have, since 2000, been a destroyer of my dreams. And, I am pulling for you Aaron because I think you are really a much better quarterback, and person, than your predecessor.

Then, in two weeks, at least for this football fan, there will be a great game played by two great teams, led by two of the greatest.

That would be Super!

The Case for President Romney

I have written many times in this forum and elsewhere that the term RINO disgusts me. RINOs? Again!! I am a registered Republican, with strong Libertarian leanings, a Constitutionalist and a social moderate. What in God's name does that make me?

That's right. I am a highly informed, free thinking, opinionated American voter.

I am not concerned with the rhetoric of the mainstream Republican Party. Chris Christie, for example, governs as he does because he is in a "blue" state. John Kasich deals with the fact that his state is "purple". Rick Perry and Jeb Bush are the men they are because they must appeal to their voters. And so on.

I will say that I am a huge fan of Allen West. But I realize that his chances are slim, at best, if he took my advice and ran for President. Ben Carson is brilliant as a surgeon and quite an orator. But a Presidential candidate? Not for me. However, either would be great Vice Presidential candidates.

There have been rumblings building since the summer, hints that Mitt Romney may consider a third try for the brass ring. And of course, denial, denial, denial almost immediately follow.

This week, however, Mitt himself reached out to his donors to let them know he was contemplating another run. Translation: I am in it.

We seem to have forgotten that the late, great, Ronald Reagan ran in 1968 and 1976 before he finally won, BIG, in 1980. He was always considered "too conservative" until he won. And now, we want all our candidates to be Reaganesque. Sadly, there will be only one Reagan.

Back to Mitt. I supported him in 2008 until he dropped out and I voted for him, proudly, in 2012. If some others who didn't like him didn't stay home and instead, held their noses and voted for him, Barry would not now be destroying this country. President Romney would have already been fixing the nightmare caused from 2009 to 2012.

So, my challenge to all of you who despise Mitt is this: Will you stay home AGAIN and allow Hillary Clinton or Elizabeth Warren be our next President?

You know if that happens, the Obama agenda will become so ingrained, there will never be a chance to recover the America that once was. Twelve or sixteen years of a socialist policy will make us so different, we will not be able to remember when we were a free republic.

This time, my friends, please think of the rest of us, hold your nose and vote if Mitt is the Republican nominee. I will be holding my nose if Jeb or Rick or Chris wins the nomination. I did before in 2000 and voted against Al Gore. Believe me, as history played out later in 2001, I was glad I did.

Please think of what we did in 2012 or didn't do and the consequences which followed. Let us not repeat the same action and expect a different result.

It will only prove we are insane.