And the name for Baby #3 is…

Before we get to that, it’s time for the I’m just sayin... Bowl Predictions. While it is true that we fully support a playoff system for division 1-A college football, that will not keep us from picking the winner for each of the bowl games. And just to make things interesting, I won’t do any research whatsoever before picking these games.

I’m just sayin... Bowl Predictions

New Mexico Bowl - December 18 2:00pm (ESPN): BYU over UTEP

uDrove Humanitarian Bowl - December 18 5:30pm (ESPN): Fresno State over Northern Illinois

R+L Carriers New Orleans Bowl - December 18 9:00pm (ESPN): Troy over Ohio

Beef ‘O’ Brady’s Bowl - December 21 8:00pm (ESPN): Louisville over Southern Miss

MAACO Bowl - December 22 8:00pm (ESPN): Boise State over Utah

San Diego County Credit Union Poinsettia Bowl - December 23 8:00pm (ESPN): Navy over San Diego State

Sheraton Hawaii Bowl - December 24 8:00pm (ESPN): Hawaii over Tulsa

Little Caesars Pizza Bowl - December 26 8:30 (ESPN): Florida International over Toledo

AdvoCare V100 Independence Bowl - December 27 5:00pm (ESPN2): Georgia Tech over Air Force

Champs Sports Bowl - December 28 6:30pm (ESPN): NC State over West Virginia

Insight Bowl - December 28 10:00pm (ESPN): Missouri over Iowa

Military Bowl - December 29 2:30pm (ESPN): Maryland over East Carolina

Texas Bowl - December 29 6:00pm (ESPN): Baylor over Illinois

Valero Alamo Bowl - December 29 9:15pm (ESPN): Arizona over Oklahoma State

Bell Helicopter Armed Forces Bowl - December 30 12:00pm (ESPN): SMU over Army

New Era Pinstripe Bowl - December 30 3:20pm (ESPN): Kansas State over Syracuse

Franklin American Mortgage Music City Bowl - December 30 6:40pm (ESPN): North Carolina over Tennessee

Bridgepoint Education Holiday Bowl - December 30 10:00pm (ESPN): Nebraska over Washington

Meineke Car Care Bowl - December 31 12:00pm (ESPN): Clemson over South Florida

Hyundai Sun Bowl - December 31 2:00pm (CBS): Miami over Notre Dame

AutoZone Liberty Bowl - December 31 3:30pm (ESPN): Georgia over UCF

Chick-fil-A Bowl - December 31 7:30pm (ESPN): South Carolina over FSU

TicketCity Bowl - January 1 12:00pm (ESPNU): Texas Tech over Northwestern

Outback Bowl - January 1 1:00pm (ABC): Penn State over Florida

Capital One Bowl - January 1 1:00pm (ESPN): Alabama over Michigan State

Gator Bowl - January 1 1:30pm (ESPN 2): Mississippi State over Michigan

Rose Bowl Game Presented By Vizio - January 1 5:00pm (ESPN): TCU over Wisconsin

Tostitos Fiesta Bowl - January 1 8:30pm (ESPN): Oklahoma over Connecticut

Discover Orange Bowl - January 3 8:30pm (ESPN): Virginia Tech over Stanford

Allstate Sugar Bowl - January 4 8:30pm (ESPN): Arkansas over Ohio State

GoDaddy.com Bowl - January 6 8:00pm (ESPN): Middle Tennessee over Miami (Ohio)

AT&T Cotton Bowl - January 7 8:00pm (FOX): Texas A&M over LSU

BBVA Compass Bowl - January 8 12:00pm (ESPN): Pittsburgh over Kentucky

Kraft Fight Hunger Bowl - January 9 9:00pm (ESPN): Nevada over Boston College

Tostitos BCS “National Championship” - January 10 8:30pm (ESPN): Auburn over Oregon

For what it’s worth (and coming from me, it should be worth a lot), there are waaaaaaaaaay too many bowl games. There really should only be about 13 bowl games and their names should be: Independence Bowl, Aloha Bowl, All-American Bowl, Holiday Bowl, Sun Bowl, Liberty Bowl, Peach Bowl, Gator Bowl, Cotton Bowl, Sugar Bowl, Fiesta Bowl, Orange Bowl, Rose Bowl. Furthermore, there should be NO bowl games after January 1. Really, there should be a playoff system in place... but if we are going to be stuck with bowl games then it should be this way.

Baby #3 Name Tournament: This is it... the final match-up. We looked at a lot of great names and today in an I’m just sayin... exclusive, we are going to announce which name we picked. It wasn’t an easy choice. It involved a lot of thought and prayer and in the end we went with the one that felt the best. So, let’s now take a look at the finalist before seeing which name won:

THE NAME

1 Daniel Winfield Horres
About The Name
This name was somewhat of a latecomer compared to the other #1 seeds. I can’t think of any family members (off the top of my head) named Daniel... so this will be our first child with a first name not taken from a family member. To be honest, I’m not 100% sure I know many Daniels. I grew up with one, and he was a pretty good guy. We weren’t best friends, but we were friends. I know a Dan in Sunday School, but I’m not sure what his full name is. I do know a Danny or two and while their name is Danny and not Daniel, it’s close enough. Besides, I might decide to call Daniel “Danny” (good chance that will happen). One Danny is my good friend and a longtime I’m just sayin... follower. He also, you may remember, gave me the state quarter I was missing to complete my set, so this is payback in a way (bet you wish YOU had give me that state quarter now, don’t you?). The other Danny is of course Danny Ford... the great Clemson football coach. Ok, so he’s not really a friend or anything, but I did have his autograph one time (it is lost now... along with the autograph’s of pretty much every great player off of the 1989 Clemson football team. There is a good chance the paper these names were on was thrown away by my Mom while cleaning my room years ago. That’s my theory, though I still have hope that we will find them one day safe and sound). Daniel is also a well known biblical name (though I must point out that when we had the list narrowed down to Daniel or David, The Wife said, “Well, David is a good name from the Old Testament” completely forgetting Daniel is also there... so maybe it’s not as well known as I think). The best part is I like how this name goes with Winfield, which is important. I also like the options it gives: Daniel, Dan, Danny, Win, D-Dub (DW), this list is endless.

1 David Gregory Horres
About The Name
A little known secret is that about five years ago when The Wife was pregnant with Baby #1 (but before we knew if we were having a boy or a girl) we started talking about boy names. The reason we only talked about boy names is that we already had a girl name picked out (the funny part here is we didn’t use that girl name we had picked out). Anyway, we like this name for a number of very good reasons. The David part comes from The Wife’s uncle who passed away a year before we got married. Since then I have become friends with a David and this helped keep the name around the top of the list all these years. I liked the match-up of David and Gregory because that would give me a chance to call him “DG” in honor of my good friend and Labor Day family member DG. In the end, however, I really wanted to give my son my middle name. I love it. I remember learning how to spell it by looking a little Bible MaMa gave me when I was a baby (that had my full name on it). And since (as I’ve said before) I didn’t like the David Winfield combo, I couldn’t use the name David. But I really do like the name. How much? I tried to sell The Wife on a “four name” name for Baby #3 (David George Winfield Horres or David Gregory Winfield Horres). But she didn’t want to go the 4 name route. And it didn’t help that I started saying David like they say Ziva’s last name on NCIS (Da-veed). I like this name enough that if we ever have another boy (I doubt it) or another male dog (more likely) I will use this name.

Winner of the first ever Baby #3 Name Tournament: Daniel Winfield Horres

The I’m just sayin... Football Predictions

Sunday

Pittsburgh vs. New York Jets 4:15pm (CBS) – The Steelers need this one to stay on top of the division. It’s a home game… I’m picking Pittsburgh to win by 7.

Miami vs. Buffalo 1:00pm (CBS) – I’m going to go with the Dolphins on this one. I’m picking Miami to win by 3.

Winthrop Update: The Eagles are off for the rest of the week.

Know Your Medal of Honor Recipients:

Captain Steven L. Bennett (US Air Force) received his Medal of Honor for his actions on June 29, 1972 at Quang Tri, Republic of Vietnam. His citation reads:

Capt. Bennett was the pilot of a light aircraft flying an artillery adjustment mission along a heavily defended segment of route structure. A large concentration of enemy troops was massing for an attack on a friendly unit. Capt. Bennett requested tactical air support but was advised that none was available. He also requested artillery support but this too was denied due to the close proximity of friendly troops to the target. Capt. Bennett was determined to aid the endangered unit and elected to strafe the hostile positions. After 4 such passes, the enemy force began to retreat. Capt. Bennett continued the attack, but, as he completed his fifth strafing pass, his aircraft was struck by a surface-to-air missile, which severely damaged the left engine and the left main landing gear. As fire spread in the left engine, Capt. Bennett realized that recovery at a friendly airfield was impossible. He instructed his observer to prepare for an ejection, but was informed by the observer that his parachute had been shredded by the force of the impacting missile. Although Capt. Bennett had a good parachute, he knew that if he ejected, the observer would have no chance of survival. With complete disregard for his own life, Capt. Bennett elected to ditch the aircraft into the Gulf of Tonkin, even though he realized that a pilot of this type aircraft had never survived a ditching. The ensuing impact upon the water caused the aircraft to cartwheel and severely damaged the front cockpit, making escape for Capt. Bennett impossible. The observer successfully made his way out of the aircraft and was rescued. Capt. Bennett's unparalleled concern for his companion, extraordinary heroism and intrepidity above and beyond the call of duty, at the cost of his life, were in keeping with the highest traditions of the military service and reflect great credit upon himself and the U.S. Air Force.

Corporal Thomas W. Bennett (US Army) received his Medal of Honor for his actions on February 9-11, 1969 at Chu Pa Region, Pleiku Province, Republic of Vietnam. His citation reads:

For conspicuous gallantry and intrepidity in action at the risk of his life above and beyond the call of duty. Cpl. Bennett distinguished himself while serving as a platoon medical aidman with the 2d Platoon, Company B, during a reconnaissance-in-force mission. On 9 February the platoon was moving to assist the 1st Platoon of Company D which had run into a North Vietnamese ambush when it became heavily engaged by the intense small arms, automatic weapons, mortar and rocket fire from a well fortified and numerically superior enemy unit. In the initial barrage of fire, 3 of the point members of the platoon fell wounded. Cpl. Bennett, with complete disregard for his safety, ran through the heavy fire to his fallen comrades, administered life-saving first aid under fire and then made repeated trips carrying the wounded men to positions of relative safety from which they would be medically evacuated from the battle position. Cpl. Bennett repeatedly braved the intense enemy fire moving across open areas to give aid and comfort to his wounded comrades. He valiantly exposed himself to the heavy fire in order to retrieve the bodies of several fallen personnel. Throughout the night and following day, Cpl. Bennett moved from position to position treating and comforting the several personnel who had suffered shrapnel and gunshot wounds. On 11 February, Company B again moved in an assault on the well fortified enemy positions and became heavily engaged with the numerically superior enemy force. Five members of the company fell wounded in the initial assault. Cpl. Bennett ran to their aid without regard to the heavy fire. He treated 1 wounded comrade and began running toward another seriously wounded man. Although the wounded man was located forward of the company position covered by heavy enemy grazing fire and Cpl. Bennett was warned that it was impossible to reach the position, he leaped forward with complete disregard for his safety to save his comrade's life. In attempting to save his fellow soldier, he was mortally wounded. Cpl. Bennett's undaunted concern for his comrades at the cost of his life above and beyond the call of duty are in keeping with the highest traditions of the military service and reflect great credit upon himself, his unit, and the U.S. Army.

Captain Mervyn Sharp Bennion (US Navy) received his Medal of Honor for his actions on December 7, 1941 on board the USS West Virginia. His citation reads:

For conspicuous devotion to duty, extraordinary courage, and complete disregard of his own life, above and beyond the call of duty, during the attack on the Fleet in Pearl Harbor, by Japanese forces on 7 December 1941. As Commanding Officer of the U.S.S. West Virginia, after being mortally wounded, Capt. Bennion evidenced apparent concern only in fighting and saving his ship, and strongly protested against being carried from the bridge.