There’s nothing like turning our attention to the BCS National Championship Game with a little game of what I like to call “Who’s Got the Sports Karma?” This is where I compare both teams – in this case the No. 1 Notre Dame Fighting Irish and the No. 2 Alabama Crimson Tide – by not using boring stuff like statistics and offensive or defensive matchups, but by what they’ve done to earn our “Awww”s and “That’s cool”s. And as you can see in that banner pic, ‘Bama is already going after one of our soft spots – the troops.

Specifically, Tide fan Justin Crisler founded an effort known as “Tide for Troops”, and through his Facebook group “Can I get a Roll Tide?” he was able to make 180 shirts bearing his group’s rally cry to deliver to a Huntsville, AL unit that deploys to Guantanamo Bay this weekend. Additionally, Crisler was able to send shirts along to the 167th Infantry Battalion in Afghanistan so they could cheer on their beloved Tide as well.

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Test of strength!

I have a new favorite MMA fight: SPHL goalies Ross MacKinnon and Kiefer Smiley ending ‘Military Appreciation Night’ with a post-buzzer brawl to settle the score after the Pensacola Ice Flyers’ 4-3 victory over the Mississippi Surge.

It’s got everything. MacKinnon lands a stiff, snap left to start the fight and you think he’s going to steamroll this guy, but the punch just causes Smiley to HULK THE HELL UP and whomp the dog shit out of MacKinnon for the rest of the fight. It’s glorious. The fight is over before they reach the boards, but the refs let it go, and Ross learns an important lesson: never f**k with a guy with ‘smile’ in his name. He will END YOU.

And while we’re on the subject of names, I absolutely do not want to know where the ‘Mississippi Surge’ got their name, or what that is.

Video of this epic showdown is below, courtesy of our friends at Puck Daddy:

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Not relevant, but still awesome.

Welcome to the 578,682,357,683th installment of With Leather’s “We Are Absolute, Unapologetic Suckers For Any Video Of U.S. Soldiers Surprising Their Families At Sporting Events” and today’s video clip is a 5-star general of a doozie. During Saturday’s otherwise uneventful, one-sided 35-7 South Carolina Gamecocks win over the Georgia Bulldogs, the wife and two children of Sergeant First Class Scott Faile were brought on to the field to receive a special video message from their hero.

In case you’re afraid to show emotion in front of your co-workers, here’s the breakdown from WLTX:

The family (his wife two children) were brought onto the field as the Columbia Metropolitan Airport MilitaryFamily of the Game. They then saw a videotaped message from Sgt. Faile, explaining how much he loved and appreciated their support. At the end of the message, Faile said how he wished he could be there with them to see the Gamecocks beat up on Georgia.

But that blurb does absolutely zero justice to the actual video, which I command you to watch after the jump. OBEY!

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Being a Miami Dolphins fans comes with few true joys these days – or, well, for the last 40 years – so it’s nice to see the team do something outside of blowing two overtime wins in the past two weeks in classic bonehead fashion. In this case, a group of Miami Dolphins cheerleaders and former players OJ McDuffie and Troy Drayton visited the 411th Engineer Brigade – the “Brigade of Choice” – in Afghanistan this past weekend.

While my favorite posts about soldiers involve them coming home, I certainly don’t have a problem with very attractive women going to visit them.

“It makes my heart happy to be here and see the smiling faces on everyone I meet,” said Samantha Ruiz, a fourth-year cheerleader with the Dolphins.

Ruiz, a native of Miami and full-time student at Florida International University said, “I met a lot of amazing people with great stories. This has been a once in a lifetime experience.” (Via Regional Command East)

And it wasn’t just great for the cheerleaders, as the troops sincerely appreciated the opportunity to meet, speak with and get pictures and autographs from these young ladies. Oh yeah, and those player dudes, whoever they are.

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Seriously, I don’t ever get tired of videos of American troops coming home and surprising their families at baseball games. The latest such act happened yesterday at Fluor Field, the home of the Boston Red Sox Single-A affiliate, the Greenville Drive in South Carolina. In the middle of the third inning, airman Trey Murphy, dressed as a Drive player, stood behind his mother and brother as they were interviewed on the field. Mom thought Trey was still in Afghanistan until he grabbed her by the shoulders to surprise her.

“Oh my God! Trey!” Sarah shouted as her son grabbed her by the shoulders, gently turned her around and gave her a tremendous bear hug.

She burst into tears. “But I haven’t baked for you yet.” (Via The State; unfortunately, not the one with $240 worth of pudding)

IT’S DUSTY IN HERE! THE EYE SPRINKLERS ARE SET TO WATER NOW!

So how did Trey come up with this allergy-inducing idea to surprise his mom for his homecoming? He saw plenty of other soldiers do it at other ballparks and thought it was pretty cool. Once again, I strongly encourage the U.S. government and every professional and minor league sports team that it might take to organize approximately 1.4 million more of these surprises as soon as possible.

Video of a local news report and the surprise after the jump.

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Like millions of Americans, there was a time when I thought that competitive eating was awesome. I’ve also loved poker, Hooters swimsuit pageants, World’s Strongest Man competitions, American Gladiators, MySpace, and The Office. The problem is that when something gains a great deal of popularity in a relatively short time, the people behind a pop cultural phenomenon never know when to say, “Stop.”

I don’t see the charm, anymore, in watching Joey Chestnut practically suffocate while devouring 68 hot dogs in 10 minutes. And no, it’s not because I think we should be more concerned with all those starving people in Africa our own country. Obviously, we should, but the Nathan’s Famous Fourth of July International Hot Dog Eating Contest doesn’t exactly make me lose the most sleep. And no, it’s not because a bunch of protesters showed up to Coney Island and apparently want us to eat kittens. I couldn’t anyway, I’m allergic. I’d just like it if for every eating contest we hosted, we also held two math contests or two engineering fairs.

But instead of rambling on about how embarrassing it is that competitive eating has become synonymous with America’s Independence Day – even our baseball teams welcome it now – I’ll at least enjoy the fact that approximately 5,000 miles away, an eating contest brought happiness to our armed forces and their families at the U.S. Army Garrison in Baumholder, Germany. I just wish their contest could have been at Coney Island, too.

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