The Weekend Kevheads-Kevin Matthews

Kevin Matthews — Fri, 03 Sep 2010 00:00:00 -0400

Photo:Springsteen Box Set Coming.

Kevheads, it's Thursday and the holiday weekend is right around the corner, hell, let's start it now. Great radio show today. Dave Dyer is in studio, Dave's World, the topic stupid people.

Ellen Taylor with some great stupid stories about Hollywood at 6:35 and 8:35am/EST.

The Lions play Buffalo tonight, Jim Shorts has tickets, tickets to every Lion's game, hear Jim Shorts at the top and bottom of each broadcast hour. Follow Jim on Facebook Jim Shorts Fan Page.

The Next Big Party Kevheads.....

Tomato Wars and our annual Tomato Festival is coming again to the BOB in the heart of Grand Rapids on Saturday, September 11th.

Sign up your team now, you can have up to ten people on a team and sign up is free. The winning team will take home $1000 dollars cash!

All the details are here on the front page (www.wlav.com ) and we have all the details on the morning radio program. This event is open to the public, all ages, food, music and 2 tons of tomatos, come and watch from the bleachers.
________________________

Come and watch Easy Rider at the Getty Drive-In Kevheads, you bikers, the best biker movie made on the big screen Friday night, September 24th, bikers are in for $5 bucks, come and ride and watch a real road classic, Easy Rider. Details on the morning show.

Save this date: Saturday, October 16th for the Wurst Festival Ever, coming to New Salem, Michigan. Corn maze, live music, pumkins, a gian food throw down, hot air ballons, haunted woods, all ages, this event is going to be huge and it will become the Wurst Festival for years to come.

Hear the morning show daily at www.wlav.com Call the radio show: 616-459-9797. Watch the morning show live from studio 97 on the HD Kev-Cam.

The Jim Shorts Football Pool is happening again, sign up starts next week, can you beat Jim? Play weekly, it's a confidence pool, it's fun, details Monday here on the site. How will the Lions do this year, who will be going to the Super Bowl, you bet, with Jim Shorts, sign up coming Kevheads.

Radio topics today: When will Obama return from vacation? Is Lurch leaving the radio show? Is Ed headed for television? What are your plans for labor day? Colleges are starting to fill up, is college just a big waste of your hard earned money, should you pull your kid out and save for your future? Call the radio program Kevheads: 616-459-9797.

Follow the staff on Facebook: Kevin Matthews and Jim Shorts on the Fan Page.

Hear morning radio daily at www.wlav.com We have a great week of radio and a total review of the weekend Monday/Today beginning at 5:30am/EST until 10am/EST

Kevin Matthews

Thursday Kevhead Headlines-Kevin Matthews

Kevin Matthews — Thu, 02 Sep 2010 00:00:00 -0400

Photo: Demi Moore Hotel Photos, hello.

Thursday Kevhead Headlines

Kevheads, it's Thursday and the holiday weekend is right around the corner, hell, let's start it now. Great radio show today. Dave Dyer is in studio, Dave's World, the topic stupid people.

Ellen Taylor with some great stupid stories about Hollywood at 6:35 and 8:35am/EST.

The Lions play Buffalo tonight, Jim Shorts has tickets, tickets to every Lion's game, hear Jim Shorts at the top and bottom of each broadcast hour. Follow Jim on Facebook Jim Shorts Fan Page.

The Next big party Kevheads.....

Tomato Wars and our annual Tomato Festival is coming again to the BOB in the heart of Grand Rapids on Saturday, September 11th.

Sign up your team now, you can have up to ten people on a team and sign up is free. The winning team will take home $1000 dollars cash!

All the details are here on the front page (www.wlav.com ) and we have all the details on the morning radio program. This event is open to the public, all ages, food, music and 2 tons of tomatos, come and watch from the bleachers.
________________________

Come and watch Easy Rider at the Getty Drive-In Kevheads, you bikers, the best biker movie made on the big screen Friday night, September 24th, bikers are in for $5 bucks, come and ride and watch a real road classic, Easy Rider. Details on the morning show.

Save this date: Saturday, October 16th for the Wurst Festival Ever, coming to New Salem, Michigan. Corn maze, live music, pumkins, a gian food throw down, hot air ballons, haunted woods, all ages, this event is going to be huge and it will become the Wurst Festival for years to come.

Hear the morning show daily at www.wlav.com Call the radio show: 616-459-9797. Watch the morning show live from studio 97 on the HD Kev-Cam.

The Jim Shorts Football Pool is happening again, sign up starts next week, can you beat Jim? Play weekly, it's a confidence pool, it's fun, details Monday here on the site. How will the Lions do this year, who will be going to the Super Bowl, you bet, with Jim Shorts, sign up coming Kevheads.

Radio topics today: When will Obama return from vacation? Is Lurch leaving the radio show? Is Ed headed for television? What are your plans for labor day? Colleges are starting to fill up, is college just a big waste of your hard earned money, should you pull your kid out and save for your future? Call the radio program Kevheads: 616-459-9797.

Follow the staff on Facebook: Kevin Matthews and Jim Shorts on the Fan Page.

Hear morning radio daily at www.wlav.com We have a great week of radio and a total review of the weekend Monday/Today beginning at 5:30am/EST until 10am/EST

Kevin Matthews

Wednesday Kevhead Headlines-Kevin Matthews

Kevin Matthews — Wed, 01 Sep 2010 00:00:00 -0400

Wednesday Kevhead Headlines

Kevheads: Here it is the first day of September, here comes the holiday weekend and we are knocking on Fall's big front door. Lot's to do today, Tim Cusack and Dave Dyer are in studio today. Ellen Taylor has your Hollywood Headlines, hear Ellen today on air at 6:35am and 8:35am/EST.

Devon is in studio early at 6:30am/EST What does he want. Dave Dyer in studio today, Dave's World is coming Kevheads at 6:50am/EST.

Today we play News or Not, your chance to win concert tickets and Lion's tickets, Jim Shorts has your sports at the top and bottom of each hour, join Jim's Fan page on Facebook, follow me too, Kevin Matthews Fan page.

Tomato Wars and our annual Tomato Festival is coming again to the BOB in the heart of Grand Rapids on Saturday, September 11th.

Sign up your team now, you can have up to ten people on a team and sign up is free. The winning team will take home $1000 dollars cash!

All the details are here on the front page (www.wlav.com ) and we have all the details on the morning radio program. This event is open to the public, all ages, food, music and 2 tons of tomatos, come and watch from the bleachers.
________________________

Come and watch Easy Rider at the Getty Drive-In Kevheads, you bikers, the best biker movie made on the big screen Friday night, September 24th, bikers are in for $5 bucks, come and ride and watch a real road classic, Easy Rider. Details on the morning show.

Save this date: Saturday, October 16th for the Wurst Festival Ever, coming to New Salem, Michigan. Corn maze, live music, pumkins, a gian food throw down, hot air ballons, haunted woods, all ages, this event is going to be huge and it will become the Wurst Festival for years to come.

Hear the morning show daily at www.wlav.com Call the radio show: 616-459-9797. Watch the morning show live from studio 97 on the HD Kev-Cam.

The Jim Shorts Football Pool is happening again, sign up starts next week, can you beat Jim? Play weekly, it's a confidence pool, it's fun, details Monday here on the site. How will the Lions do this year, who will be going to the Super Bowl, you bet, with Jim Shorts, sign up coming Kevheads.

Radio topics today: When will Obama return from vacation? Is Lurch leaving the radio show? Is Ed headed for television? What are your plans for labor day? Colleges are starting to fill up, is college just a big waste of your hard earned money, should you pull your kid out and save for your future? Call the radio program Kevheads: 616-459-9797.

Follow the staff on Facebook: Kevin Matthews and Jim Shorts on the Fan Page.

Hear morning radio daily at www.wlav.com We have a great week of radio and a total review of the weekend Monday/Today beginning at 5:30am/EST until 10am/EST

Kevin Matthews 5:30am/EST-10am/EST Daily

Venice Film Festival-Mario Luzzo

Kevin Matthews — Wed, 01 Sep 2010 00:00:00 -0400

VENICE — The new Palazzo del Cinema on the Lido, to replace the one built in the 1930s for the world’s oldest international film festival, was due to be unveiled in 2011, its inauguration planned to coincide with the 150th anniversary of the unification of Italy. But the discovery of a dump of asbestos during the excavation of the site has delayed the projected opening of the multi-screen Palazzo until 2012.

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.So an area still under construction will again be looming over Venice’s 67th film festival, which opens Wednesday evening and continues through Sept. 11.

In any case, as the locals lost no time in pointing out, Venice and the Veneto did not join the Kingdom of Italy until 1866, after the so-called Third War of Independence against the Hapsburg Empire.

But Marco Müller, now in his seventh year as artistic director, appears to be flying his colors as one of the “Italianissimi,” as the patriots were dubbed in the 19th century. He has put 41 Italian productions in the festival’s four official sections — nearly twice the 22 of last year — which include a “Controcampo Italiano” list of notionally avant-garde home-grown movies, and a sidebar retrospective of Italian comedies from the 1930s to 1980s.

Last year the only Italian film to receive a prize from the Golden Lion jury was the well-merited Coppa Volpi for best actress that Ksenia Rappoport won for her role in Giuseppe Capotondi’s psychological crime thriller “La doppia ora” (The Double Hour), outstandingly the best of the host country’s contemporary movies at that festival.

This year there are four Italian films in competition: “La pecora nera” (The Black Sheep), a first feature by Ascanio Celestini; “La solitudine dei numeri primi” (The Solitude of Prime Numbers), based on Paolo Giordano’s best-selling novel, directed by Saverio Costanzo; “Noi credevamo” (We Used to Believe), an epic directed by Mario Martone that relates the struggle for the peninsula’s self-determination through the eyes of a group of young idealists; and “La Passione” (The Passion), a comedy directed by the inventive Carlo Mazzacurati about a desperate, out-of-work film director who finds himself bamboozled into directing a village Passion Play. Mr. Mazzacurati won a Silver Lion in 1994 for “The Bull.”

There will be 79 world premieres in the four official sections, chosen from 2,395 feature films from 102 countries — there were 74 in 2009 — with 34 countries making the final lists, up from 27 last year. The biggest non-Italian contingent is from the United States, with 19 productions, promising the presence of a number of big-names on the Lido.

Darren Aronofsky’s “Black Swan,” a melodrama set in the world of ballet, starring Natalie Portman and Mila Kunis as two rival dancers, will be the opening in-competition film. Mr. Aronofsky’s new-agey “The Fountain” went down like a lead balloon here in 2006, but the great clunking fist of the revived Mickey Rourke apparently persuaded the director to lick his wounds and return to Venice two years later with “The Wrestler,” which scooped the Golden Lion to the dismay of those who felt Marco Bechis’s more challenging and original “Birdwatchers” deserved the prize.

The other U.S. productions vying for the Golden Lion are: “Somewhere” by Sofia Coppola, whose “Lost in Translation” in the Countercurrents category was a hit in Venice seven years ago; the indie director Monte Hellman’s “Road to Nowhere”; Kelly Reichardt’s “Meek’s Cutoff”; and Julian Schnabel’s “Miral.”

Richard J. Lewis’s adaptation of Mordechai Richler’s “Barney’s Version,” with a cast led by Dustin Hoffman, is billed as a joint Canadian-Italian production.

France is represented in-competition by Antony Cordier’s “Happy Few”; Abdellatif Kechiche’s “Venus Noire”; and François Ozon’s “Potiche,” with Catherine Deneuve and Gérard Depardieu.

From Japan come Takashi Miike’s “13 Assassins” and “Norwegian Wood,” an adaptation of Haruki Murakami’s novel directed by the Vietnam-born Anh Hung Tran, whose “Cyclo” won the Golden Lion in 1995.

Of China’s seven films across the various categories, only one is in competition: Tsui Hark’s “Dr. Detective Dee and the Mystery of the Phantom Flame.” The remaining competitors are from Chile, Germany, Greece, Poland, Russia and Spain, and an additional “surprise film” to be announced next week.

The opening out-of-competition film will be Andrew Lau’s “The Legend of the Fist: The Return of Chen Zhen,” inspired by a television series and Bruce Lee’s 1972 “Fist of Fury,” marking the 70th anniversary of the kung-fu star’s birth. The midnight out-of-competition opener will be a romantic action movie, “Machete,” Robert Rodriguez’s tale of “a legendary ex-federale with a deadly attitude” and his personal battle against a Mexican drug baron.

Next year marks the 400th anniversary of the first performance of Shakespeare’s “Tempest.” A decade after her film version of the bard’s “Titus Andronicus,” Julie Taymor revisits Prospero’s isle in her out-of-competition “The Tempest,” which will close the festival and which features Helen Mirren as the magician, transmogrified into Prospera.

Mr. Müller has pointed out that at 47 the average age of the directors at Venice this year is lower than ever, though the oldest, Monte Hellman, is 78. The youthful profile has certainly been statistically aided by the omission of the 101-year-old Portuguese director Manoel di Oliviera, whose films have appeared year in and year out on the Lido under successive artistic directors regardless of their quality.

The “Orizzonti” (Horizons) category has been thrown open to a vast range of productions, including documentaries, animations, medium-length and short films. Both the Affleck brothers will appear here: Ben with a full-length feature, “The Town,” and Casey with a documentary about the actor Joaquin Phoenix. Mani Ratman of India has the distinction of having two versions of the same story in this section, “Ravavan” in Hindi and “Raavanan” in Tamil.

With 21 features and nearly 50 other films of varying durations, the president of the Horizons jury, Shirin Neshat, who won a Silver Lion last year for “Women Without Men,” and her colleagues will have their work cut out in assigning prizes.

Quentin Tarantino, who made a guest appearance in Mr. Takashi’s barmy but enjoyable “Sukiyaki Western Django” three years ago, is president of the Golden Lion jury this year.

Fatih Akin is the president of the jury that awards the Luigi de Laurentiis debut film award, which brings with it $100,000 to be divided equally between the director and producer. Samuel Maoz, whose first-feature “Lebanon” won the Golden Lion last year, is also on that jury.

Mr. Akin’s splendid “Soul Kitchen” won the Special Jury Prize last year, a notable achievement given that comedies, even ones as intelligent, diverting and deftly made as “Soul Kitchen,” very rarely carry trophies away from the major festivals.

Tuesday Kevhead Headlines-Kevin Matthews

Kevin Matthews — Tue, 31 Aug 2010 00:00:00 -0400

Tuesday Kevhead Headlines

Hey now Kevheads, another hot day and a great day of radio, here we go. We have a mystery guest in studio today at 7:20am/EST Who is dat?

Devon is in studio early at 6:30am/EST What does he want. Dave Dyer in studio today, Dave's World is coming Kevheads at 6:50am/EST.

Tomato Wars and our annual Tomato Festival is coming again to the BOB in the heart of Grand Rapids on Saturday, September 11th.

Sign up your team now, you can have up to ten people on a team and sign up is free. The winning team will take home $1000 dollars cash!

All the details are here on the front page (www.wlav.com ) and we have all the details on the morning radio program. This event is open to the public, all ages, food, music and 2 tons of tomatos, come and watch from the bleachers.
________________________

Come and watch Easy Rider at the Getty Drive-In Kevheads, you bikers, the best biker movie made on the big screen Friday night, September 24th, bikers are in for $5 bucks, come and ride and watch a real road classic, Easy Rider. Details on the morning show.

Save this date: Saturday, October 16th for the Wurst Festival Ever, coming to New Salem, Michigan. Corn maze, live music, pumkins, a gian food throw down, hot air ballons, haunted woods, all ages, this event is going to be huge and it will become the Wurst Festival for years to come.

Hear the morning show daily at www.wlav.com Call the radio show: 616-459-9797. Watch the morning show live from studio 97 on the HD Kev-Cam.

The Jim Shorts Football Pool is happening again, sign up starts next week, can you beat Jim? Play weekly, it's a confidence pool, it's fun, details Monday here on the site. How will the Lions do this year, who will be going to the Super Bowl, you bet, with Jim Shorts, sign up coming Kevheads.

Radio topics today: When will Obama return from vacation? Is Lurch leaving the radio show? Is Ed headed for television? What are your plans for labor day? Colleges are starting to fill up, is college just a big waste of your hard earned money, should you pull your kid out and save for your future? Call the radio program Kevheads: 616-459-9797.

Follow the staff on Facebook: Kevin Matthews and Jim Shorts on the Fan Page.

Hear morning radio daily at www.wlav.com We have a great week of radio and a total review of the weekend Monday/Today beginning at 5:30am/EST until 10am/EST

Take My Kidney Out From Where-Dr. Manning

Kevin Matthews — Sun, 29 Aug 2010 00:00:00 -0400

This may not be fair if your a guy, unless you are a pussy?

Methodist Hospital surgeons are set to study whether kidney transplants are safe if the organ is removed through the vagina, a method that would dramatically reduce the donor's pain, scarring and risk of complications.

The method, part of a growing movement using natural orifices for organ removal rather than incisions, earned fanfare last year when a Johns Hopkins doctor extracted a kidney from a woman as if he were delivering a baby, then transplanted it in her niece. It was thought to be the first such transplant — and a hope for future kidney transplants.

But first, an important question must be answered: Might the kidney become contaminated in the process?

“There is nothing sterile about the vagina,” said Dr. Brian Dunkin, a Methodist surgeon and the study's lead researcher.

“The method is a great advance for minimally invasive surgeons looking to push the envelope, but you can imagine the reaction of many transplant doctors: ‘You're going to drag a kidney through there before I put it in an immunosuppressed patient? Where's the data that that's OK?'”

To obtain data, Dunkin's team will analyze the amount of bacteria on a mock kidney placed in the abdomen of women undergoing a hysterectomy and then extracted vaginally.

The results will be compared to the amount of bacteria on real kidneys after they're removed for organ transplantation the conventional way, through an abdominal incision.

If the analysis shows no greater evidence of bacteria through the vagina, Dunkin expects the method to become mainstream and significantly increase the living kidney donor pool, which is 60 percent women. Because there's a shortage of donors, thousands on the waiting list now die annually before a kidney becomes available.

Dr. Manning-Kevhead Health Department

Music Industry vs The Internet-Bob Mackey

Kevin Matthews — Sun, 29 Aug 2010 00:00:00 -0400

The music industry is on the ropes, rather then welcome the Internet, as they should, years ago, the music industry still embrace the future.

Rocker John Mellencamp said on Tuesday that the Internet was the most dangerous invention since the atomic bomb, although new technology could paradoxically delay the inevitable demise of rock 'n' roll.

But before then, "some smart people, the China-Russians or something" may have already conquered America by hacking into the power grid and financial system, he warned during a public seminar at the Grammy Museum.

Mellencamp, 58, has established a reputation during his career as a bit of a loose cannon disdainful of music industry niceties. He still lives in his home state of Indiana, saying he never fit in elsewhere.

Famed for such hit songs as "Hurts So Good," "Jack and Diane" and "Small Town," he is also a political activist who campaigned for President Barack Obama. He has also helped Live Aid organizer Willie Nelson put on the annual Farm Aid charity concerts for small farmers.

His comments on the Internet coincided with the release -- in stores and at digital retailers -- of his new album, "No Better Than This." While he said the Internet was useful on a personal level for communication, he worried about its destructive potential.

"I think the Internet is the most dangerous thing invented since the atomic bomb," he said. "It's destroyed the music business. It's going to destroy the movie business."

IPOD RUINS BEATLES

For starters, the popularity of digital downloads, which fans listen to on their MP3 players and computers, has come at the expense of sound quality, he said.

He recalled listening to a Beatles song on a newly remastered CD and then on an iPod, and "you could barely even recognize it as the same song. You could tell it was those guys singing, but the warmth and quality of what the artist intended for us to hear was so vastly different."

At any rate, most rock 'n' roll -- including his own contributions -- will eventually be forgotten, he said, likening its demise to that of big-band music, which was all the rage during the 1930s and '40s.

"After a few generations, it's gone," he said. "Rock 'n' roll -- as important as we think it is, and as big as it was, and as much money as people made on it, and as proud as I am to say that I was part of it -- at the end of the day, they're gonna say: 'Yeah, there was this band called the Beatles, and the Rolling Stones, and this guy named Bob Dylan...'

"And the rest of us? We're just gonna be footnotes. And I think that that's OK. I'm happy to have spent my life doing what I wanted to do, playing music, make something out of life, but forgetting about the idea of legacy."

Mellencamp, a Rock and Roll Hall of Fame inductee, said his first half-dozen albums were "just terrible," while his mid-'80s breakthroughs such as "Scarecrow" and "The Lonesome Jubilee" were "happy accidents."

He actually quit the music business for two years in the late 1980s and did nothing. "We even knew what was on TV at night," he said.

His new album takes the rocker back in time. He recorded it with vintage equipment in three historic locations: Sun Records in Memphis, original home of Elvis and Johnny Cash; in the same San Antonio, Texas, hotel room where bluesman Robert Johnson cut 16 tracks in 1936; and at the First African Baptist church in Savannah, Georgia.

Mellencamp recalled that he and his wife Elaine even got baptized at the church. "For about a half hour I really felt uplifted. It wore off," he said.

While America Burns He Made Par-Corey Matus

Kevin Matthews — Sun, 29 Aug 2010 00:00:00 -0400

Obama has played more golf and better golf this summer then Tiger Woods. Since taking office, Obama has played 53 rounds of golf and how was your summer?

Update from the White House pool reporter: "POTUS is golfing with Mayor Bloomberg today, and they prefaced their game with a 15-minute discussion of the economy in the clubhouse at the Vineyard Golf Club. Seeking more details.

CBS's Mark Knoller, hailed by many including the WH for his command of presidential data, says the two men have not golfed together before. After their conversation they headed to the driving range, and then the links. Also in the foursome: Vernon Jordan and trip director Marvin Nicholson."

Update 2: "The President and Mayor Bloomberg took the opportunity to discuss plans for short- and long-term economic growth at a pivotal point in our recovery," said White House spokesman Reid Cherlin. POTUS invited the Mayor about a week ago. The mayor met POTUS at the golf club -- he did not travel with him in the motorcade."

As our Adam Lisberg notes, it just so happens that Hizzoner didn't rough up the POTUS when talking about the economy during this morning's WOR interview:

Bloomberg: "The stimulus bill, in the end, didn't go to do what the stimulus did back in the, after the Depression in the early 30s. Then they built schools and bridges..."

Gambling: "Most of what we have."

Bloomberg: "Most of what we have was built then. I mean, I went to an elementary school, a junior high school and a high school, all WPA projects. And this time, Congress did a lot of stuff which was operating and not long-term infrastructure.

"The objective, they would say, well, we gotta get the money out there right away. But once you get it to Congress, there's real-world politics. I'm not knocking them, but the real-world politics is everybody's got to bring home something, or the local press and commentators like you will blast, 'Our Congressman didn't bring home something.' Supposing you didn't need it, or some other place needed it more. Not relevant. They're gonna go after him. So we do have problems. My responsibility is for New York."

Corey Matus-Kevhead Golf Pro.

College Football Q&A Jim Shorts-Jim Shorts

Kevin Matthews — Sun, 29 Aug 2010 00:00:00 -0400

Hey Suckies: Are you ready for some college football? Here are the most asked questions I get daily, keep these questions in mind when betting this year on your favorite college team.

Who's No. 1? That's easy . . . right now. It's Alabama in the polls. But this is a season perhaps unlike many in the past few years with so many programs surrounded by so many questions. Can Notre Dame finally be a national contender? Are FSU and Miami on the way back to the top? Is Florida on the way down?

Here's a look at 10 issues that will have a direct impact on who celebrates a BCS national title in January in Glendale, Ariz., with some input from ESPN's Kirk Herbstreit.

1. ARE THE HURRICANES BACK?
It's beginning to look like it. This is Randy Shannon's fourth season as head coach. A once youthful team is filled with veterans.
"You look at Randy's first three years, he has been able each year to take some steps in the right direction . . .

I expect this Miami team to be very talented and now more experienced," Herbstreit said. "I think they will win the ACC championship this year. I think the game against Ohio State (on Sept. 11) is a marquee, big-time opportunity going to Columbus the second week of the season."
If the 'Canes beat the Buckeyes, No. 2 in the USA Today coaches' preseason poll, watch out.

2. WHO'S THE BIG 12's NEXT GREAT QUARTERBACK?
Who knows?

Colt McCoy, Sam Bradford and Chase Daniel are gone. Now what? It could take a while but plenty of young, talented arms await. Like Landry Jones at Oklahoma, Garrett Gilbert at Texas, Texas Tech's Taylor Potts, Missouri's Blaine Gabbert and Texas A&M's Jerrod Johnson, to name a few.

"I think the last two to three years, the perception of the Big 12 is that they have been an offensive juggernaut, just based on what they have been able to do with the spread and having so many quarterbacks who have been able to put up astronomical numbers," Herbstreit said.

"Part of the exciting thing to me . . . is seeing the turnover and seeing who is able to pick up the pieces with these great players leaving."
It may take a while, but the stats will continue to explode in the Big 12. Give it a year and the big numbers will come back.
(2 of 3)

3. WHAT WILL HAPPEN TO SOUTHERN CAL AND THE PAC-10?

All signs point to the Trojans beginning a period of struggles while under probation, and other teams must find a way to grab the nation's attention. It's a deep league, but the question is which team will rise to the top?

"You could really make a case for a number of these teams," Herbstreit said.
At USC, the key is if Lane Kiffin can keep his team motivated to play for pride while serving a bowl ban the next two seasons.

4. CAN NORTH CAROLINA DEAL WITH AGENT ISSUE?

It's a mess in Chapel Hill with the NCAA looking into possible rules violations because of alleged agent contacts as well as possible academic violations and the Tar Heels open against LSU in the Chick-Fil-A Kickoff in Atlanta on Saturday night. The season could blow up before it even begins.

"One of the X factors is just sitting back and trying to figure out who is going to be on the roster," Herbstreit said.

"Who's going to be able to play (when the season starts) and what players are going to be affected, if any (by NCAA suspension). . . . You can imagine what it's like living this every day as players and coaches.

5. IS RICH RODRIGUEZ IN HIS LAST YEAR AT MICHIGAN?
He's still trying to wake up from a nightmare that started when WVU people were bitter about the way he left. Then came a bad start, NCAA questions about possible violations of practice scheduling, followed by one bad PR stunt after another.

If Rodriguez doesn't have a big year, Michigan may have to make a move.

6. CAN THE BIG TEN RETURN TO THE TOP?

It could finally happen. And we may know something really fast. Ohio State plays Miami and Penn State visits Alabama, both on Sept. 11. That's two wins that put the Big Ten in the national spotlight or possibly two losses that have everyone saying, "Here we go again.

Iowa has huge expectations, which could be a bad thing. The Hawkeyes -- who also have a key, early game on Sept. 18 at Arizona -- don't seem to like hype. The Buckeyes will play for a BCS title if they go undefeated, no doubt.
(3 of 3)

7. WILL CHRISTIAN PONDER LEAD FLORIDA STATE BACK TO NATION'S ELITE?

Not likely. Ponder's great but the talent level around him just isn't the same as FSU grew used to during Bobby Bowden's great years.

"Having a guy like that as your rock, I think it makes it a lot easier to grow," Herbstreit said. ". . .Let's face it, outside of (back) Jermaine Thomas, the talent that is around him, at least proven talent, is not up to what you expect from the Florida State teams, especially that 14- or 15-year run when they had so much skill.

8. CAN ALABAMA AND HEISMAN WINNER MARK INGRAM REPEAT?
Absolutely. But it's more likely the Tide will play for a repeat. Ingram shares the running back load. The other top Heisman contenders eliminated themselves last year. Ingram is a marked man now in the brutal SEC.

The Crimson Tide lost 13 key players off the defensive depth chart. Regardless, Herbstreit predicts the Alabama-Auburn winner will win the West and play for the SEC title.

9. HOW MUCH WILL FLORIDA MISS TIM TEBOW?
The key in Gainesville could be how quickly UF figures out a way to win without him.

"He's just one of those players, it's once in a lifetime," Herbstreit said of Tebow. ". . . But I think John Brantley, because of his background with his dad and his family, if anybody can deal with that and try to keep things in perspective, it seems to me that Brantley can.

The biggest thing I want to see here is Brantley needs to be more like Chris Leak (the starter before Tebow). Just distributing the football to all the speed and athletic ability that they have around him, that allows Jeff Demps, (Emmanuel) Moody and (Chris) Rainey and others to become the guys that become kind of the face of the Florida Gator offense. (Brantley should be) just kind of be an aw-shucks kind of guy and just distribute the ball.

Replacing Tebow's leadership could be harder.
10. WHERE DOES BOISE STATE FIT IN?

This could be the issue that finally forces a playoff. If Boise beats Virginia Tech early and wins out, there's a good chance it will wind up in the BCS title game.

And the ultimate argument, the one that will finally boil over, will force all the BCS conferences to finally give a little bit more thought to negotiating a future eight-team playoff incorporating the bowls in some fashion. So if you are a playoff fanatic, cheer for Boise State this fall.

Each win will bring it all likely even closer to change.

Hear Jim Shorts daily at: www.wlav.com Call Jim live on the radio Monday-Friday from 5:30am/EST until 10am/EST. Pig Skin picks coming to this site, sign up coming Kevheads.

Jim Shorts-Kevhead Dot Com Sports Department.

Monday Kevhead Headlines-Kevin Matthews

Kevin Matthews — Sun, 29 Aug 2010 00:00:00 -0400

Photo: War this week with Iran, story below.

Kevheads: What a weekend, the weather is perfect, the Greek and Polish Festivals in town were a blast to attend, details today on the radio program.

Tomato Wars are coming back to the BOB here in Grand Rapids, your team can win $1000 dollars, sign up now, 10 man teams, free to enter, all ages are welcome to watch and play. 2 tons of tomatos, live music, cocktails, sit in the bleachers and watch the bigges fall party on Saturday, September 11th, at the BOB, beginning at 11am/EST. Details on the morning radio program.

Easy Rider, the movie coming to the Getty Drive-In, Friday night, September 24th. Bikers attend this fall rally, $5 bucks per bike, details on the morning radio program.

The Wurst Festival Ever is coming to New Salem, Saturday October 16th. Live music, haunted woods, corn maze and the biggest food throw down yet, this will be held on a real working farm, all ages welcome, help us help a great charity, N/F.. More about this event and more about the charity on the morning radio program.

Hear the radio program every morning: www.wlav.com Call the radio show: 616-459-9797. See the crew on the HD Kev-Cam daily from 5:30am/EST until 10am/EST.

The big story to follow this week:

Increasing speculation it may be preparing for a military assault on Iran or a regional war involving Hezbollah in Lebanon and Hamas in Gaza, Israel has placed its largest order of military fuel with the United States on record.

The Jewish state, earlier this month, ordered 284 million gallons of JP-8 aviation jet fuel, 100 million gallons of diesel fuel and 60 million gallons of unleaded gasoline – all suitable for military uses – at an estimated cost of $2 billion.

"It would be inappropriate for us to comment about what actions Israel may take or how they will use their fuel," Marine Corps Major Chris Perrine, a public affairs officer at the Department of Defense, told WND. "I would note, however, that it would take a lot more than fuel to attack a country or wage a regional war."

Kevin Matthews