Tebow Does it Again

He won't be shown a lot on the highlight reels, but he guided his team to a big win.

Tim Tebow, did enough to help lead the Denver Broncos to a 16-13 win over the staggering San Diego Chargers. After Nick Novak missed a 53-yard field goal, Denver’s Matt Prater kicked a 37-yarder with 29 seconds left, making Tebow 5-1 since he was elevated to starting quarterback.

After Novak pushed his kick wide right. Tebow moved the Broncos down the field for the kick that sent the Chargers tumbling to their sixth straight loss.
With that kick, there now hasn’t been a tie in the NFL since Cincinnati and Philadelphia ended even at 13 on Nov. 16, 2008.

Coach John Fox believes in his quarterback, even if Hall of Famer John Elway, the Broncos executive VP of football operations, isn’t totally sold on his third-down conversions and passing numbers.

“Tim has outstanding ability,” Fox said. “He proved it at a high level of college football in the SEC at Florida. (The option is) something that he is comfortable with. I think our team has adapted to it. Right now it’s working in the run portion of our offense. We still have some growth to do in the pass portion.”

It looks like Tebow is a winner.  How long will it last?

A Turkey in a Dining Room on Thanksgiving?

Not that unusual you say.

A wild turkey smashed through a plate glass window at an empty western Pennsylvania restaurant and ended up where millions of its fellow gobblers did on Thanksgiving: a dining room.

Penn Hills police Officer Bernard Sestili says the feathered fowl didn’t survive impact when it barreled into the dining room of the Eat’n Park in Penn Hills on Thursday afternoon. The restaurant was closed at the time.

Sestili says he responded when the building’s alarm went off.

He suspects the turkey may have been roosting in a nearby tree when it “got up this morning and went for his morning flight and flew into the window.”

The Amazing Race Preview for "Release the Brake"

Racers put the pedal to the metal and shift into high gear when they take a thrilling test drive, and results are far from sweet when teams also try to recreate classic Belgian waffles, on THE AMAZING RACE Sunday, Nov. 27 (8:00-9:00 PM, ET/PT) on CBS.

Week 12 NFL Play of the Day: New Orleans

Even though they have lost a few games, I still like the Saints and how thay can score at will on offense.

They take on a slumping N.Y. Giants team tonight in New Orleans and are only giving the G-Men 7 points.

The Saints are rested and coming off a bye week.  They will score a lot of poimts and take down the Giants. Give the 7, and take the Saints.

Black Friday Sales Up, Up and Up

The holiday shopping season got off to a strong start on Black Friday, with retail sales up 7 percent over last year, according to the most recent survey. Now, can stores keep buyers coming back without the promise of door-buster savings.  I have to bet we haven't heard the term "doorbuster" for the last time in 2011.

Buyers spent $11.4 billion at retail stores and malls, up nearly $1 billion from last year, according to a Saturday report from ShopperTrak. It was the largest amount ever spent on the day that marks the beginning of the holiday shopping season, and the biggest year-over-year increase since 2007. Chicago-based ShopperTrak gathers data from 25,000 outlets across the U.S., including individual stores and shopping centers.

The reason for the increase in sales.  My theory is the stores were open earlier and longer.  In 2010, stores opened at 4, 5, and 6am.  This Black Friday, stores opened at the stroke of midnight.

Bill Martin, who founded ShopperTrak, said he was surprised by the strong showing. He had expected the weak economy to dent consumer confidence and keep more shoppers out of the stores, or at least from spending much. Instead, he said, they responded to a blanket of promotions, from 60- and 70-percent off deals to door-buster savings on electronics.

More good news, sales were also up 4 percent each in the two weeks leading up to Black Friday, as retailers started their promotions earlier than usual or extended their hours.

My experience at Black Friday around Atlanta was full parking lots and 2-hour waits in some checkout lines.

At Crabtree Valley Mall in Raleigh, N.C., Mary Aker was forced to use valet parking Friday because she couldn't find a parking spot. But on Saturday, the pace had let up a little, so she and her husband came back to do some more shopping.

Over the past six years, Black Friday was the biggest sales day of the year, and it is expected to keep that crown this year, though shoppers seem to be procrastinating more every year and the fate of the holiday season is increasingly coming down to the last few days before Christmas.

Last year, the Thanksgiving shopping weekend accounted for 12.1 percent of overall holiday sales. Black Friday made up about half of that.