Shocked and surprised that my calling out of the gramatically challenged bloggers did not start a small war, Jdeppa's Dozen Declarations is back for a third edition. I want to thank those who commented in support of my thoughts a week ago. It's refreshing to see that I'm not the only one sick of reading some of the complete nonsense that's out there. Anyway, I've got twelve more declarations coming at you, in yet another effort to stir the pot and get Fox Sports nation talking.

1. Anybody who bought into the Chargers looks like a complete fool.

I put myself right at the top of this list. I was duped into believing that this team was so good that they would even overcome the walking jinx that is Marty Schottenheimer. Their disgraceful loss to the Dolphins on Sunday is squarely on his shoulders. It is his job to get his team focused for the upcoming game, and not have them look past any opponent. Several Dolphins commented after the game that the Chargers clearly were looking past them, and ahead to their match-up with the, now 13-0, Indianapolis Colts, a match-up which is now rendered irrelevent. Their secondary made the woeful Gus Frerotte look like Joe Montana. And their offense appeared to be half-asleep. They deserve to miss the playoffs, which they now will. A quick aside: Nick Saban can coach. This team has a chance to go .500, which would be a terrific building block. Long-term, they need a quarterback. But it won't be long before this team is really good.

2. Any official who throws a late flag on 4th and goal at the 6 to decide a game should be fired on the spot.

If you read my blog, you know that I am a Giants fan. I want to put this fact right out there because I don't want this to sound like sour grapes, seeing as I'm referring to a call that gave the Dallas Cowboys a huge win against Kansas City on Sunday. With that out of the way, this call was a complete joke. Not because there wasn't a penalty on the play, in fact there was. Chief linebacker Derrick Johnson clearly held Cowboy tight end Jason Witten, and deserved to be flagged on the play, even in an end of game situation. My gripe is with the timing of the flag. The official waited, by my count, six full seconds after the infraction, to throw his flag. He waited for the completion of the play, to make sure the Cowboys didn't score, before he reached for his flag. Had they scored, he never would've thrown it. This is a disgrace. If there's a foul on the play, just make the call, and don't wait for the play to end. This leaves a horrible taste in my mouth. Had the infraction not been as flagrant as it was, I would've gone completely bonkers. Terrible job by that official. He must not worry about himself, which he clearly was in waiting to throw that flag. If he sees something, he's got to call it, promptly, or else keep his hands in his pockets. (By the way, Cowboy right tackle Rob Pettiti got away with a flagrant hold on that play, and nobody seemed to mention it...okay THAT was sour grapes...damn zebras!)

3. If Peyton Manning doesn't win his Super Bowl this year, he can never be mentioned as an all-time great again.

There is absolutely no competition for the Indianapolis Colts this year. Peyton Manning has no excuses. If his loses a playoff game this year, it's because he choked. There's no good reason why the Colts shouldn't waltz through the postseason this year. The second best team, whoever you think it is (my reluctant vote goes to the Broncos), is lightyears behind the Colts right now. There couldn't be more pressure on Peyton Manning, but I couldn't care less. He's got the talent around him on offense, and, not a championship defense, but certainly a good enough defense. A failure this year, with this team, would be a complete disaster. He can keep his touchdown records and his other obscene stats. If he doesn't get it done this year, he's a choke artist, pure and simple. And that kind of player does not deserve a place on the list we've commonly placed him on, with the who's who of NFL greats. No excuses Peyton, just get it done.

4. Reggie Bush is good, but not good enough that a kicker should have to humiliate himself in order for his team to land him in the draft.

I want to believe that the Texans would not compromise the integrity of the game, I really do. Sometimes, I have more faith in the professional athlete than I probably should. But I just cannot get past that pathetic kick attempted by the Kris Brown of the Texans this past Sunday, with a last-second chance to tie the game against the Titans. Did you see this thing? It was a 33 yarder from the right hash, that was pulled so far left that it went outside of the netting. It was a kick so bad that, by comparison, it made Jay Feely look like Lou Groza. What a complete joke. It was definitely the funniest thing I've seen on a football field in quite some time. And yes, I'm not supposed to read anything into the fact that Dan Reeves has been hired by the Texans as a consultant for the last six weeks of the season. Right. Uh-huh. Whatever you say.

5. If Colorado's athletic department is smart, they will do whatever it takes to land Boise State head coach Dan Hawkins, and his imaginative offensive coordinator Chris Peterson.

It will take quite a lot. Hawkins is the last of a dying breed in this country that is truly not moved by the prospects of money, or fame. He has turned down, at least a hal####ozen offers to coach BCS conference schools in the past, including, rumor has it, one from Notre Dame (which he, in the past, called his dream job). But this is a special head football coach. If he comes as part of a package deal, with his brilliant offensive coordinator, and his elite 11 quarterback son (who is currently planning to walk-on at Boise State), he would be even better. Here's his Division IA resume. Five years at Boise State. An overall 52-10 record. Four consecutive conference titles (in the same conference as perennial mid-major powerhouse Fresno State). A three year streak in which his team was ranked in the top 15 at season's end. And only three conference losses over his entire tenure. Here's the most impressive thing about all of this, and why his success differs from that of all other mid-major coaches. Boise State's sustained success is unparalled in the BCS era. When a mid-major is good, it is because, in most cases, they were lucky enough to land a big-time quarterback (see Alex Smith, Ben Roethlisberger, Byron Leftwich, and countless others). Think about this, Hawkins has acheived all of this success without so much as a single first day NFL draft pick having ever been on his roster. His talent is his uncanny ability to motivate. He emphasizes the team concept like no other, and gets every last ounce of talent he can out of all of his players. He gets one and two star recruits to play like three and four star recruits. If given the chance, he will get three and four star recruits to play like five star recruits. And when he eventually lands five star recruits, he will get them to play like seasoned professionals. And his offensive coordinator, Chris Peterson, is an x's and o's mastermind. He masterfully combines a power, between the tackles running game, with a finesse throw it all over the lot passing game, that leaves opposing defenses dumbfounded. Boise State has averaged 45 points per game over the Hawkins era, and I assure you this is not a fluke. Hawkins is unbelievably loyal, and my guess is that he'll stay in Boise. If he does, he will eventually make the smurf-turfers into a perennial powerhouse, and his name will, one day, go on the list with Paterno, Bowden, and Osborne. Colorado is advised to ignore NFL retreads like Steve Mariucci and Butch Davis, and pursue Hawkins with reckless abandon.

6. Pat Riley is a snake, Stan Van Gundy is a wimp, and they both deserve the enormous amount of criticism they are getting.

I used to idolize Pat Riley. He masterfully guided my beloved New York Knicks for quite a few years while I was growing up. When I didn't know any better, I used to love the guy. I considered his book, The Winner Within, my personal Bible, before I realized that it was complete nonsense. He can coach, I'm not at all denying that. But he is also a backstabbing, image-conscious, selfish, two-faced weasel. Between his faxed resignation from the Knicks, and now his carefully manufactured manipulation back to the Miami Heat bench, this is not a good person, at all. He deserves no respect from anyone. Nor does outgoing Heat coach Stan Van Gundy, who rolled over and played dead at the press conference on Monday. I don't know how much money he got for his trouble, but there was no need to be so enthusiastic about getting #### out of his job. I have no sympathy for him. If he didn't put up a fight to keep his job, then why should I? He deserved exactly what he got.

7. ESPN had its head up its collective behind with its coverage of the Riley press conference on Monday morning.

I happened to catch the news of this sham going down in Miami early Monday morning, and was curious to see how Riley, the devil in Armani, would conduct himself at the press conference. So I went out of my way to check it out. I was tuned to ESPNEWS at 11am ET, where a message at the bottom corner of the screen informed me that coverage of the press conference would take placed once it got going. At 11:10, it still hadn't started. Thankfully, I got curious, and flipped to the other ESPN channels to see what was up. I found the conference, already in progress, on ESPN2. Stan Van Gundy was in the middle of his nonsenical speech, but fortunately, I hadn't missed too much. After Van Gundy finished, he was followed by Heat owner Micky Arison, and then by new coach Riley. After Riley finished, ESPN2 cut away from the press conference, just as it was being opened up for questions. They left the press conference to go to their moronic Cold Pizza show, where their baloonhead analysts were offering up their worthless commentary on the matter. What a disgrace. The whole point of covering the thing is to see Riley and Van Gundy squirm when the media calls them on their b.s.! To imply that what their knucklehead analysts have to say is more important, relevent, or entertaining than what Riles and Van Gundy have to say, is utterly nonsensical. It smacks of self-importance. It doesn't need to be said by me, because it's been said by countless others. But ESPN is truly about style over substance. The sports fan needs them, because they televise the games. But it is not for the sports fan. It's for everyone else. This is an intelligent marketing move, I suppose. But it becomes less desirable each day to its core audience.

8. The Yankees will rue the day they signed Kyle Farnsworth.

This signing by the Yankees made the Met fan in me smile from ear to ear. Kyle Farnsworth throws a 100 mph fastball. It, however, has no movement, and it will constantly be turned around by American League sluggers. Tom Gordon choked in the big game, granted. But at least he got them to the big game. Farnsworth will not even do that. If he lasts until June, I will be surprised. I'm thrilled to see that another rough year (by their standards) is on the horizon for the aging Bronx Bombers.

9. If King Kong isn't the greatest movie of all-time, every movie critic in the country should lose their job.

The hype for this movie has been absolutely sickening. Review after review has heaped mountains of praise on this stupid thing. It is as if these critics are trying to out-do each other in glorifying this movie, solely in an effort to get noticed. It's akin to what football analysts having been doing with teams like the Bengals for the last few weeks. They've been trying to make the craziest statements possible about that team only so that people will know their name. Same thing with this movie. King Kong is probably a really good movie that I'm going to end up not liking, because I walked in expecting The Godfather. Not that these awards mean anything, but the movie only got one Golden Globe Nomination (for Peter Jackson's direction). If the movie was truly on that level, I have to think it would've gotten, at the very least, a nomination for best picture. My cynicism leads me to believe that some of these critics might be on the take. With the movie's enormous $207 million dollar budget, and massive national promotional campaign, it wouldn't surprise me in the least if they had a few critics in their pocket. Or, at a minimum, hooked them up with some good champagne or something at the screenings. As a movie buff, I sincerely hope this movie does live up to the incredible hype, but I truly doubt it.

10. Richard Pryor was the greatest stand-up comedian that ever lived.

I'd like to take a moment to pay tribute to this man, who, in some way, inspired every good comedian that ever followed him. His irreverence was unparalleled for his time. His willingness to say anything and everything on his mind took an awful lot of guts, and for that he ought to be commended. The man was an absolute scream when he was in his prime. His best stuff makes the Chris Rocks and Dave Chappelles of the world look amatuerish by comparison. His drug addiction was heartbreaking, and his death was far too premature. Here's saluting a legend. He'll be missed.

11. President Bush has been given one last chance by the American people to save his administration.

With his approval ratings inching their way north of the forty percent threshold, the President has one final chance to unify the country, and do some good things with his Presidency. I'm not sure what exactly brought about the change in public opinion (my mind, for one, hasn't really been changed), but I'm willing to give this man another chance, as an alternative to living in a divided nation for the next three years. America, Mr. President, appears ready to give you one more chance to return our great nation to prosperity. I implore you to seize it.

12. As a culture, we should be ashamed of ourselves for...forgetting 9/11.

In New York this past week, two cops were shot to death in the line of duty. This inspired me to write about the incredible sacrifices made, on a daily basis by all men and women in uniform. Be they police officers, firemen, or armed forces, they deserve our humble gratitude far more often than they receive it. We all think these thoughts, but we must verbalize them more often. Because we do not let these people know nearly enough just how grateful we are for their service to our city, and/or our country. We acknowledged them after September 11th, as, of course, we should've. And, at the time, we swore we'd never forget. We lied. We watched NFL football on September 11th this past year. Hell, in New York, our television stations cut away from the Ground Zero tributes in favor of the damn pregame shows! This truly angers me. I implore each and every one of you to do what I did today. Find a serviceman, be it a cop, fireman, or soldier, go up to them, and thank them. These people need to know that we haven't forgotten them. Because, right now, I don't think they do. And, for this, we should be ashamed of ourselves.