You know I had to get in what very well may be my last mention of the Tarvaris Jackson Fan Club. Whether you feel that opportunities just haven’t gone right for Jackson, or that he “just can’t get right”, I believe most of us think that it’s the end of the line for Jackson with the Vikings. Though most of us could be wrong (most of us meaning me).

With 18 free agents to re-sign, the Vikings will likely be in “trim the fat” mode this off-season; and Jackson’s passes haven’t been too lean over the past few years. Jackson’s passes have often leaned about 3 to 5 feet above his intended receiver’s head. For Tarvaris it’s all about controlling that cannon that he has attached to his shoulder, as well as the quite nimble feet he has below the waist. And thus the most important thing Jackson needs to control is also above his shoulders. If Jackson can find a way to comfortably be himself, and use his own judicious, country boy intellect – like the Good Ol’ Country Boy football smarts of Brett Favre, who is now, sadly, in everybody’s rear view mirror – to affect his own sharp personality on the field.

There are now seven Black head coaches in the NFL. Interestingly, four of the seven come from the Tony Dungy coaching tree (Mike Tomlin—Pittsburgh Steelers, Lovie Smith—Chicago Bears, Jim Caldwell—Indianapolis Colts, Leslie Frazier—Vikings). The bottom line for NFL coaches is judged by playoff victories and Superbowl wins. Taking a look at the current NFL playoff roster of coaches, the “bottom line” should suggest that there should be many more African-American head coaches, to lead this 65% African-American player based league.

This February a new dimension is being added to Black History Month. To celebrate Black History Month this year, Phoenix International Raceway, in conjunction with Talking Stick Resort and Casino and the Second II None Phoenix Motorcycle Club, are hosting a historic “Checkered Flag Run.”

The motorcycle run, a first-of-its-kind event that offers a weekend’s worth of activity for motorcycle enthusiasts. It culminates with an escorted motorcycle ride from Talking Stick Resort in Scottsdale to NASCAR’s SUBWAY Fresh Fit 500™ Sprint Cup Series race at Phoenix International Raceway on February 27.

“I didn’t write this book just to revisit The Blind Side… I want to help separate fact from fiction. After the movie came out, there were a lot of people asking me if my life was exactly how it was shown on screen. Obviously, the moviemakers have to make artistic choices to tell the story…but some of the details… just aren’t true. I hope that I can help to make a little more sense of it all. My second goal with this book, and the much more important one, is that I want to talk about—and to—the nearly 500,000 children in America… in foster care. Many people probably know my name from The Blind Side...  What no one knows is exactly what happened to me during my years in the foster care system, the years before The Blind Side picked up my story. The ending of my story is unique, but the beginning of my story is, sadly, far too common…It is my goal with this book not only to tell my story in my own words, but to encourage anyone who is a part of the system or who wants to be a part of helping children out of it.” -- Excerpted from the Introduction (pgs. xiii-xviii)

In this day and age, the sports media can be quite thirsty about even the simplest little issue, and it doesn’t help that every knucklehead on Earth gets to weigh-in with the likes of Twitter. But for the football purists who like to watch some real “rock’em sock’em head knock‘em football” (as my high school defensive coach Cunningham used to say…and which I loved to play), they could not have asked for a better match-up than the Green Bay Packers line up against the Pittsburgh Steelers.

I do believe that I suggested that the Steelers would be one of the teams lining up for this gridiron war, and I also believe that the other team doesn’t really have a chance no matter who it is – which is quite contrary to what the Las Vegas betting line suggests. Incredibly, the Vegas line-makers initially determined that the Packers were slight favorites, though the two-week waiting period before the game will certainly allow for some movement on that professional prediction. The Steelers are entering their third Super Bowl in six years. In my humble opinion, that means a whole lot.

Though head coach Tubby Smith’s championship collegiate basketball development program takes greater foothold on success by the day, the Gopher men’s basketball team is still taking their lumps through the first half of the season’s schedule. A recent loss to #2 nationally ranked conference opponent Ohio State showed the Gopher’s ability to hang with the best that the country has to offer. The team has done this increasingly well over the last four years. Many may remember the Gophers big regular season victory over #9 ranked Louisville in 2008. The Gophers were well led that day in 2008 by then sophomore point guard Al Nolen Jr. That well developed leadership almost led to an even more shocking 18point comeback victory over Ohio State just recently. Nolen’s path over the last few years is indicative of the Gophers overall fortunes for the last couple years with both academic and injury related challenges. If breakthrough comes from the endurance of challenges, then it seems the Gopher’s should have a day in the sun sometime very soon…perhaps just in time for March Madness.