For the past year, I’ve worked at the Daily, covering sports with the most professional tact that I could muster.

Now, I want to have a chance to shoot off my mouth at things that I find worthy of talking about, whether in the positive or the negative.

Here I go.

Respect the double feat

While watching this past Sunday’s Sportscenter, I noticed something leading off the show.

Anchor Stuart Scott was introducing the tease when he said something about Tony Stewart’s tale of two car races.

In essence, he asked why people weren’t criticizing Stewart for his long journey when there was such a backlash against Vince Carter for his big day the week before.

Big ups, Stu. Way to call it man.

First of all, let me say that I give respect to Stewart, who did his annual double day of racing at the Indy 500 and the Coca-Cola 600 this past Sunday.

As I grow older, I gain more respect for racers who have to risk life and limb every time they step into a car.

But, on the other hand, What is this guy thinking?!?

You race 500 miles, then run to a helicopter to race the clock to another 600 mile race, risking life and limb to boot.

Although, I can respect them for doing this week after week, I just don’t get it.

And while some people (including myself, I have to admit) see this as a little heroic, they see walking across a stage as nothing better than dumb. Thus this is where my beef lies.

If you can’t respect Carter’s decision then I believe you have no right to uphold Stewart’s, especially in a land where education is supposed to be held as sacred.

What’s behind curtain No. 1?

The NFL recently announced that they had come to an agreement on the new realigned league on Tuesday. With the Houston Texans (What sort of name is that, anyway? Good job in stating the obvious), the league will expand to 32 teams starting next year.

This prompted a change from the normal six divisions to eight and made some long, overdue adjustments.

However, there is still a little concern on my part.

Don’t get me wrong, the decisions Commissioner Paul Tagliabue and his boys made are sound in most cases.

Moving New Orleans, Arizona, Carolina, Tampa Bay, and Atlanta out of their current divisions was absolutely necessary. It may mean that the Bucs won’t shake that 40 degrees and below curse for a while, but I think they’ll manage.

Baltimore and Indianapolis were also moved, just not to where I thought they’d be.

And with that, I’ll bring out the small points that this plan (or several others considered) did not take into consideration.

1) I don’t know if the NFL loves or hates Dallas, but for God sakes move them out of the NFC East.

2) St. Louis may be the Gateway to the West, but that doesn’t mean it should be in the NFC West.

3)Back to the Ravens and Colts. Even though the split shouldn’t be a factor, thinking of Baltimore as North and Indianapolis as South just bothers me.

4) Speaking of things that bother me, where is Miami? Oh, that’s right, IT’S SOUTH. That’s right, south of Houston, south of Jacksonville, south of Tennessee, and DEFINITELY south of anywhere close to Indiana.

So, taking these factors into consideration, I’ve devised my own realignment (like every other football junkie has done for years). Here’s how my NFL would look:

Division 1: Oakland, San Diego, San Francisco, Seattle

Division 2: Arizona, Dallas, Denver, Kansas City

Division 3: Chicago, Green Bay, Minnesota, St. Louis

Division 4: Cleveland, Cincinnati, Detroit, Indianapolis

Division 5: Atlanta, Carolina, Jacksonville, Tennessee

Division 6: Houston, Miami, New Orleans, Tampa Bay

Division 7: Baltimore, Philadelphia, Pittsburgh, Washington

Division 8: Buffalo, New England, New York Giants, New York Jets

Now, I know this will take away some of the established rivalries built throughout the passage of time, but just think about the possible match-ups.

Bucs-Dolphins, Ravens-Redskins, Jets-Giants, Raiders-49ers, Eagles-Steelers, Vikings-Rams, etc., etc.

One can dream, can’t he?

Oh, well, maybe when the next realignment comes around.

Absurd Predictions (No. 1)

This will be the first installment of many dumb, seemingly ludicrous predictions I will create in my brain throughout the summer.

First stop: the NBA Finals.

Everything looks happy and bright at the moment in La-La Land with the Lakers building sunshiny coffins to put their opponents into.

There’s a lot of talk that the next tomb to be placed will be for the Eastern Conference champs, be it Philadelphia or Milwaukee.

But just over the San Bernadeno hills of Southern California looms a dark shadow called fate.

Why is the cloud so dark?

Because the Lakers have not had the true test of survival yet.

Now, I’m not saying that LA will lose the championship (I’m not that dense). My point is that it won’t be as easy as people imagine (or dream).

My prediction: First, the Bucks will win their series against the 76ers. Milwaukee just has too much firepower overall (a mistake for me since I believed Philly would make it from the start).

Now for the real deal..

What some don’t realize is that you don’t need to kill a rampaging beast in one shot.

All you need to do is stun it long enough to get away and fight again later.

This is what the Bucks will do in game one, stun the Lakers on their home court.

Shaq and Kobe will respond in games two and three before Ray Allen and company tie the series at two.

Phil will get his troops together and finish off the job in games five and six to take the trophy for the second straight year.

So remember kids, you don’t have to outrun or outsmart the beast. Just slow it down long enough for you to ram into it with your semi-truck.

Jonathan Lowe is a senior in meterology from Kansas City, Mo.